A young mother is speaking out after a hospital in Oklahoma refused to terminate a nonviable and dangerous pregnancy. Jaci Statton, 25, and husband Dustin unexpectedly but happily became pregnant this past February. The blended family of five embraced the new adventure, even talking about baby names, but the excitement quickly turned tragic.
Jaci began bleeding early in her first trimester and realized something was wrong. The mother of two made an appointment with her doctor but had no idea the battle she and her husband would soon face. The state of Oklahoma has multiple abortion bans in effect with conflicting language regarding medical exemptions. This made for a challenging and potentially life-threatening waiting game for the Stattons while they tried to find a doctor to help.
More from CafeMom: After Having 2 Angel & 2 Rainbow Babies, This Is What I Need Struggling Mamas To Know
Jaci had a partial molar pregnancy.
After an ultrasound and bloodwork at her OB-GYN's office, Jaci's doctor delivered the devastating news: Her pregnancy was not viable. People reported that the embryo had too many chromosomes and would not develop properly. This often happens when two sperm fertilize a single egg.
This type of pregnancy causes serious complications such as a placenta filled with cysts, preeclampsia, and sometimes a rare form of cancer that causes irregular tissue to grow after pregnancy ends, according to People. Jaci's bleeding was due to a ruptured cyst, and it was dangerous.
The doctor couldn't help her.
Jaci explained that because she was at a Catholic hospital, her doctor could not perform a D&C (dilation and curettage), which would remove the harmful tissue, but told her it had to be done and sent her to another hospital for treatment. But paperwork and obstacles to overcome took time. She became increasingly ill and began to bleed again.
"It had gotten so bad that I couldn't eat, I could hardly walk. I was really lethargic," she told People. "It scared me. It scared Dustin. He took me to the ER at Oklahoma University Medical Center where my papers were being put in for the transfer."
Two additional doctors confirmed her need for a D&C, but an ultrasound tech disagreed. Jaci alleged the tech, who was reportedly not trained in obstetrics, said there was cardiac activity. Doctors canceled the procedure.
She later recalled in a Facebook post that, "The Drs did everything EVERYTHING they LEGALLY could! They talked to us, begged for us and cried with us!!!! It WASN'T THEIR FAULT!!!!!"
As time passed, the situation became more dire.
In just one week, doctors told Jaci she had a nonviable pregnancy and she was now at her third hospital. An ultrasound at Oklahoma Children's Hospital showed precancerous cells all around, she told People. And yet no one helped.
"A team of doctors and specialists came in and told us, 'There's nothing that we can do according to Oklahoma law. We can't even really touch you,'" she said. "They were giving me medicine every 30 minutes to help with my nausea but said, 'We can't keep you here just for nausea and we can't even help you if you start bleeding again. Unless it's a huge emergency, unless you are crashing in front of us or your blood pressure goes up so high that you're having a heart attack, we can't help you.'"
The mother just wasn't sick enough under the law.
Rabia Muqaddam, senior staff attorney at the Center for Reproductive Rights, told People that according to the confusing language in the Oklahoma law, doctors couldn't help Jaci unless she got sicker.
"And the effect of this confusion and chaos is combined with extraordinarily draconian penalties," she explained. "So if a doctor makes the wrong decision, they could be subjected to five-year prison sentence or lose their medical license."
Because of this, patients like Jaci suffer.
Jaci recalled a doctor telling her, "The best advice we can give you, is to go sit in the parking lot until you bleed out, and we will be ready to help you when that happens."
The couple made their way to Kansas to terminate the pregnancy.
An unidentified member of the medical field helped the Stattons get to Kansas for help. On March 10, Jaci met with a state-mandated counselor at a Wichita reproductive health clinic that went over her options and then threw the paperwork in the trash, she told People.
"I asked her, why did you throw the papers away, don't I need them? And she pulled a huge trashcan out and says, 'I want you to look at this.' And it was completely full. She said, you're not alone. This whole trash can is filled with papers of other women that also did not have a choice," Jaci explained.
She was ushered into a procedure room and reassured she was making the right choice. "They told me, you're not making the wrong decision. If you don't do this, you're going to die," she recalled.
More from CafeMom: Woman Arrested After Passerby Finds Body of Abandoned, Deceased Fetus on Sidewalk
The delay in care caused long-term damage.
Jaci's HGC levels were so elevated at the time of her procedure that her body continued to grow the precancerous tissue after the procedure.
"If she had received care when this was diagnosed, she would never be dealing with these HGC levels," Rabia Muqaddam explained via People. "It might take a very long time for her levels to come down, which means that the doctors will have to be really attentive to whether the precancerous tissue is going to recur. A partial molar pregnancy needs to be addressed immediately because otherwise, the tissue continues to grow and increased the likelihood of recurrences."
Despite being excited about a new baby earlier this year, Jaci plans to have her tubes tied to prevent future pregnancies.
"If I was to get pregnant, I don't think I would be okay. Before, Dustin and I were really ready. But now, we can't imagine even the thought of going through anything like that again," she said.
