NEWS

Ohioan forced to Chicago to abort fatal pregnancy

Jessie Balmert
Gannett Ohio

COLUMBUS -- "I had to leave my baby in Chicago."

Sheva Guy, right, talks about her abortion in Chicago after she found out her daughter had a fatal spinal abnormality. She is seated next to Jaime Miracle, deputy director of NARAL Pro-Choice Ohio.

"I left her alone in a strange city, and there was nothing I could do about it," said Sheva Guy, a 23-year-old doctoral student from Cincinnati.

Guy's daughter was diagnosed with a fatal spinal abnormality, a condition detected when Guy went in for her second trimester ultrasound at about 22 weeks. The  appointment started lighthearted enough. Guy and her husband kept guessing the gender of their child.

"I wanted a girl. He wanted a boy, so it was like, 'Who was going to be right?'" Guy said.

But the technician was quiet. The baby was too small. Something was wrong.

A second test at a second hospital confirmed the baby's head was too large, the rest of the body was too small and a severe spinal abnormality meant the baby would never live.

"I just completely broke down. I mean, I was so vulnerable," Guy said. "Pants-less on the table, I was finding out this news. I was just sobbing. Both my contacts fell out. I couldn't see anything."

Guy said she had two options: deliver a stillborn daughter or have an abortion. The first was more than she could bear, Guy said.

But at 22 weeks pregnant, Cincinnati's Planned Parenthood clinic wouldn't perform the procedure. Dayton's Women's Med Center, which performs abortions until 22 1/2 weeks, could not find an appointment in time, Guy said. So, they referred Guy to Chicago, where she had an abortion just days later.

Her husband and husband's parents drove with her on the trip, which cost about $3,000, including the abortion, Guy said. It wasn't until they were headed back to Cincinnati that it hit her — she was leaving her baby girl behind.

Guy shared her story at a Tuesday news conference hosted by ProgressOhio, a liberal-leaning public policy group, and NARAL Pro-Choice Ohio. The groups oppose tightening restrictions on abortions. Since 2013, the number of abortion clinics in Ohio has dropped from 14 to nine in part because of restrictions passed by the Republican-dominated Ohio Legislature, signed by Gov. John Kasich and enforced by his administration.

GOP lawmakers want to prevent abortion 20 weeks after fertilization, which is about 22 weeks into the pregnancy. These types of abortions are already rare: only 133 abortions were performed in Ohio past 21 weeks last year, according to Ohio Department of Health records.

But Sen. Peggy Lehner, R-Kettering, says the restriction could save a handful of babies every year. Many neonatologists agree than fetuses can feel pain at 22 weeks, Lehner said.

But what about Guy's situation?

She should have been able to have an abortion under Ohio law, which currently allows abortion up to 24 weeks, said Mike Gonidakis, president of Ohio Right to Life. But some doctors are afraid of getting too close to the 24-week ban for fear of reprisal, said Jaime Miracle, deputy director of NARAL Pro-Choice Ohio.

"We don’t believe abortion is ever a solution except to save the life of the mother," said Gonidakis, but under current Ohio law, abortion clinics could have performed the procedure. That could change if lawmakers pass their 20 to 22 week proposals.

And in those tough situations, Lehner would advocate for doctors making the decision: "These are the kind of tough issues best left to an ethics boards of doctors," she said.