Samantha Casiano, a 29-year-old raising five children outside Houston, found out in December 2022 that her fetus was diagnosed with anencephaly, a fatal condition where the brain and skull do not fully develop. Samantha was crushed, but knowing this eventual outcome, wished to terminate the pregnancy and let her daughter rest. However, due to the financial and logistical burden of traveling out of state to receive abortion care, she could not terminate her pregnancy, causing emotional distress. Samantha ended up delivering baby Halo at 33 weeks, who lived for 4 hours gasping for air before dying, a heartbreaking scene for Samantha and her husband, Luis, to witness. The couple could not afford the funeral they wanted for their daughter, as current Texas laws do not provide public funds for infant funerals. After this experience, Samantha made the difficult choice to get her tubes tied, as she no longer wants to become pregnant again due to the possibility of reliving such trauma, which she equates to serving time in prison. Every Sunday, Samantha visits Halo’s grave wishing her baby could have entered Heaven sooner to avoid such tremendous suffering.
Samantha was one of the plaintiffs in Zurawski v. State of Texas, a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of Texas abortion laws. During her testimony, Samantha broke down and became physically ill on the witness stand as she recounted her pregnancy and Halo’s birth, showcasing how overwhelmingly traumatic the experience still is, exacerbated by current Texas laws.
Highlighting the reality that financial resources dictate who is able to flee Texas to receive medically necessary abortion care, Samantha was featured in an NPR story with fellow co-plaintiff Lauren Miller as both women received fatal fetal abnormality diagnoses, yet only Lauren could afford to travel out of state to terminate her pregnancy.