TRIGGER WARNING: This post contains information about stillbirth and infant loss, which may be triggering to some.
Elisabeth Weber, of Greenville, South Carolina, is a mother of three daughters. Sadly, she lost her son, Stone, when he died of SIDS in 2018. When Elisabeth learned that she was expecting again, the child was “very much wanted.” Sadly, during her nine-week checkup, Elisabeth learned that her baby had stopped growing three weeks before. Doctors could not find a heartbeat.
They sent her home to miscarry naturally, but Elisabeth’s body didn’t recognize she was no longer pregnant. In cases like this, doctors would have performed a dilation and curettage (D&C) procedure to remove the tissue from her uterus. A law in South Carolina, however, prevents it. So Elisabeth had to remain pregnant, carrying her dead child in her body.
During all of her pregnancies, Elisabeth developed hyperemesis gravidarum, an extreme sickness often characterized by crippling nausea and vomiting, People reported. “My body was not recognizing that I wasn’t pregnant anymore,” she said. “I was still completely bedridden with nausea, throwing up all the time. The baby had not grown at all. There’s still no heartbeat. At that point, I was almost 10 weeks.”
Elisabeth asked for a D&C. “With my HG and all of that, I’m so sick. I have three kids, and waiting around to go into a mini-labor is just hard.” Doctors told her because of the Heartbeat Bill, she would have to wait.
The bill is South Carolina’s ban on abortions after six weeks. Six weeks is when ultrasounds can detect a heartbeat, which speaks to its nickname. Elisabeth would have to wait two more weeks. To make a bad situation worse, people questioned her about whether or not she wanted the pregnancy.
“She seemed to be implying that I was trying to sneakily get rid of it,” Elisabeth recalled, per People. “Obviously, that was not the case. I looked at her and literally was like, ’My baby is dead. Every doctor I’ve talked to knows my baby is dead. My baby is not going to magically get a heartbeat.’ “
@elisabeth__hope EDIT: I recorded this minutes after finding this information out, so not everything was worded correctly. I was raised in a cult and was forced to stand in front of abortion clinics as a CHILD. I am not conservative and I did NOT vote for trump.
♬ original sound – Elisabeth Hope
Doctors told her to come back only if she started hemorrhaging, became septic or started bleeding heavily. Frustrated, Elisabeth posted a video about her situation and shared it to TikTok. “My baby has been sitting inside me dead for three weeks already,” Weber shares in the clip, “and now I have to wait another week, knowing my baby is dead, to do anything about it.”
While she waited, Elisabeth’s family was under financial strain, as she couldn’t work during this time. The family launched a GoFundMe to offset costs.
When she was finally able to get the D&C, her medical paperwork said, “abortion.” Elisabeth decided to share her story to highlight the real world implications of the law. “I hope that some good comes out of this really terrible situation,’ she said. “Hopefully just open up people’s eyes to see this is so dangerous for women. This is hurting women.”
The hurt is beyond just what women experience physically. During this extended waiting period, Elisabeth was not able to honor the child she lost. Now, since the D&C, she is “finally able to start grieving the loss,” she told People. “My little Enzo.”
