Lauren Hall, from outside Dallas, became pregnant at 27 and quickly jumped into planning mode with her husband, scheduling doctor’s appointments and preparing the nursery for the baby girl they’d named Amelia. As a nurse herself, Lauren immediately knew something was wrong from the doctor’s reaction during her 18-week anatomy scan – their fetus was diagnosed with anencephaly, a fatal condition where the brain and skull do not fully develop. Lauren and her husband burst into tears upon leaving the appointment, grieving the loss of their baby and overwhelmed by the difficult decision at hand – continue the non-viable pregnancy posing a risk to her health or travel out of state to receive a termination. The emotional toll of carrying a fetus who wouldn’t survive particularly wore on Lauren, at one point pushing her to consider checking herself into a hospital to address her mental health crisis. Struggling to find clinic appointments in inundated Colorado and New Mexico, Lauren finally found an opening at a clinic outside of Seattle. Despite pro-life sentiments, both families provided funding for her trip as they were shocked Lauren’s case did not qualify as an exception under Texas termination bans.
Pregnant again, Lauren fears facing any other pregnancy complications in Texas. Lauren was one of the plaintiffs in the Zurawski v. Texas lawsuit, which seeks to clarify termination exemptions to current state law.