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Heartache shared to help others - Omaha.com
Published Monday March 7, 2011
Heartache shared to help others
By Martha Stoddard
WORLD-HERALD bureau
« Metro/Region
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LINCOLN — Danielle Deaver would have stood on her head in a freezer if it could have saved her baby’s life.
Parents do that kind of thing.
But extreme measures wouldnÂ’t have mattered for the Grand Island, Neb., woman and the child she carried last year.
That baby was doomed when DeaverÂ’s water broke the day after Thanksgiving.
It was a new Nebraska abortion law, though, that turned an unbearable situation into one that Deaver, 34, and her husband, Robb, 40, called torturous.
The Deavers are going public with their story in hopes of helping other families, including those in Iowa and other states where lawmakers are considering following NebraskaÂ’s lead.
Deaver had four months to go in her pregnancy when she lost most of the amniotic fluid that cushions the fetus and helps its development, she said in an interview Sunday.
Doctors told the Deavers the loss of fluid stopped the babyÂ’s lung development and would lead to deformities of the head and limbs. Their baby was given less than a 10 percent chance of surviving delivery; less than a 2 percent chance of ever managing basic functions, like eating.
“The odds were awful,” Danielle Deaver said. “It just wasn’t there.”
But devastating as that blow had been, what followed turned out to be at least as excruciating.
The Deavers thought over the possibilities and made a decision. They didnÂ’t want to continue putting their unborn baby through what they feared was agony, so they asked the doctors to induce labor early.
“We were seeking to have the inevitable happen,” Danielle Deaver said. “We in no way, shape or fashion were seeking an abortion.”
But they were soon told the Nebraska abortion law stood in their way.
The law, which took effect in October, bans abortions at 20 weeks after fertilization, a point chosen because some experts say it is when a fetus can feel pain.
Previous state law followed the standard set by the U.S. Supreme Court. It banned abortions after a fetus could survive outside the womb, typically about 22 weeks after fertilization.
The new law permits abortions in the later months of pregnancy only to protect a womanÂ’s life or prevent major physical problems. In the eyes of the law, giving medication to induce labor at that stage of pregnancy would be an abortion.
Since Deaver was healthy and the baby still had a heartbeat, they didnÂ’t fit the exceptions in the law.
Specialists at the University of Nebraska Medical Center and the coupleÂ’s primary care doctor in Hastings, Neb., agreed that they could risk their medical licenses and prison time if they did the procedure, so the Deavers were sent home to wait.
Danielle Deaver was told to watch for signs of infection, a potential complication of losing amniotic fluid. And she agonized every time she felt the baby move, knowing that the child no longer had any protection from the uterine muscles.
“I told Robb I don’t know what to pray for,” she recalled. “Do I pray for a miracle or do I pray that I get sick enough that we can end this?”
Deaver finally went into labor on her own on Dec. 7. The baby, named Elizabeth, was born the next day at 3 p.m., weighing 1 pound, 10 ounces.
The Deavers took turns holding her while she gasped for air. But her undeveloped lungs could not inflate and no ventilator could have made a difference.
Elizabeth was pronounced dead at 3:15 p.m. The Deavers cremated her and had a family service.
Recently they decided to speak out about their experience in the hope of making a difference for other families in similar situations. They have not decided whether to mount a legal challenge to the Nebraska law.
“We should have been able to make this decision,” Danielle Deaver said. “This was not about abortion or politics or anything. This was about two parents being able to make an excruciating decision.”
Robb Deaver said he doesnÂ’t believe Nebraska lawmakers considered all the possibilities when they passed last yearÂ’s law.
And the couple are urging lawmakers in other states to slow down before following in NebraskaÂ’s footsteps.
Bills mirroring the first-of-its-kind Nebraska law have been introduced in the Iowa Legislature, where they have been referred to committees.
Similar measures are pending in Kansas, Idaho, Oklahoma, Florida, Georgia and other states.
Speaker of the Legislature Mike Flood of Norfolk, who introduced the Nebraska bill, said the DeaversÂ’ story is similar to other difficult situations that lawmakers were told about when considering the legislation.
His support for the law has not wavered.
“Even in these situations where a baby has a terminal condition, there is still a life,” Flood said. “That life is worth protecting.”
Julie Schmit-Albin, executive director of Nebraska Right to Life, also continues to support the law.
“Isn’t it more humane for the baby to die in a loving manner with comfort, care and in the arms of her parents than by the intentional painful death through abortion?” she asked.
But Jill June, president and CEO of the Des Moines-based Planned Parenthood of the Heartland, said the law damaged both Danielle Deaver and her baby.
She said Deaver was forced to risk her own health and endure mental anguish, while the fetus also had to suffer.
Dr. LeRoy Carhart, who runs the Abortion and Contraception Clinic of Bellevue, said he had predicted there would be cases such as the DeaversÂ’ under the new law. He said he has had to refer other women out of state for later-term abortions.
Danielle Deaver said the law is too unyielding.
“The outcome of my pregnancy, that choice was made by God,” she said. “How to handle the end of my pregnancy, that choice should have been mine, and it wasn’t because of a law.”
Contact the writer:
402-473-9583,
martha.stoddard@owh.com
