What Next - Best of 2023 | The Diagnosis Was Fatal. She Couldn't Get an Abortion.
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4.5 • 6K Ratings
🗓️ 28 August 2023
⏱️ 29 minutes
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Summary
As the What Next team catches its breath at the end of summer, we’re revisiting some of the biggest stories of the year. This story originally ran on March 30. What Next will resume regular programming next week.
Two weeks after Roe v. Wade was overturned, Lauren Hall found out the baby she was carrying had a fatal condition: her head and skull weren’t properly developing. Texas’s three overlapping bans on abortion forced her to fly to Washington to terminate the unviable pregnancy. With the Center for Reproductive Rights, she became one of thirteen plaintiffs suing the state, so no one else will have to go through what she did.
Recently, a district court judge decided in their favor, but the state of Texas immediately appealed, leaving pregnant Texans in limbo until the appeals process finishes.
Guest: Lauren Hall, plaintiff suing the state of Texas over its abortion bans.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hey there, it's Mary. |
| 0:03.3 | All week long, we are revisiting some of the personal conversations we've had with |
| 0:07.2 | people at the center of the news. |
| 0:09.6 | Today, you're going to hear from Lauren Hall. |
| 0:13.2 | Two weeks after Roe v Wade was overturned, Lauren received a devastating fetal diagnosis, |
| 0:20.8 | but her doctor was straight with her. |
| 0:22.6 | She couldn't get the care she needed in her home state of Texas. |
| 0:27.2 | She said, if you do go to term, like the baby's going to be stillborn, you can't get |
| 0:31.9 | help here. |
| 0:32.9 | You have to leave. |
| 0:35.3 | So Lauren did leave, but after getting an abortion halfway across the country, she became |
| 0:40.7 | one of 13 plaintiffs asking Texas to clarify exactly what kind of medical exceptions exist |
| 0:47.6 | in its abortion ban. |
| 0:49.4 | Recently, a district court judge ruled in their favor, but the state immediately appealed. |
| 0:55.9 | So for now, pregnant Texans remain in limbo until that process finishes up. |
| 1:00.9 | All right, here's the show. |
| 1:09.7 | If you walked into Lauren Hall's house, here's how you'd know she's pregnant. |
| 1:14.8 | Tables, counters, they're cluttered with ultrasounds, as if her fetus was spending most |
| 1:20.6 | of its time in a photo booth. |
| 1:23.2 | They're laying everywhere. |
| 1:24.2 | They're laying absolutely everywhere, just like riddens of sonograms. |
| 1:31.1 | How much do you know about the baby? |
... |
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