Beauty YouTuber Marlena Stell is speaking out about how the anti-abortion laws in Texas put her health in danger.
When Stell was pregnant last year, she was overjoyed to become a mother. When she and her husband went for their baby’s seven-week ultrasound, everything looked good. However, during their next appointment, they were told that the fetus had died in her womb.
“[The doctor] said there is no heartbeat. There is no viable pregnancy,” she told CNN.
Marlena Stell asked her doctor to perform a dilation and curettage procedure. This procedure is also used for abortions as well as miscarriages. Due to this, her doctor told her that they couldn’t do it until she had a second ultrasound to confirm that the fetus was deceased.
Carrying around a dead fetus in the womb puts the pregnant woman’s health in danger. She can experience organ failure, become sterile or die from the fetus releasing its tissues into her bloodstream after its death.
Stell also didn’t want to experience hearing the devastating news for a second time.
“Someone shoves a wand in my sensitive area and tells me, ‘Hey, you lost your baby’ again. I shouldn’t have to go through that twice,” she told CNN. “It’s gut-wrenching… cause you already know what you’re going to see. It’s just like, seeing it twice, being told that you’re not going to be a mom. Just emotionally carrying it around and just knowing that there’s nothing you could do. It just feels very … it’s like I can’t grieve or move past it because I’m just walking around carrying it.”
After two weeks, she was able to find a doctor to perform the dilation and curettage procedure.
Before the reversal of Roe v. Wade, Texas had already passed a six-week abortion ban.
“I get so angry that I was treated this way because of laws that were passed by men who have never been pregnant and never will be,” Stell told her YouTube followers. “I’m frustrated, I’m angry and I feel like the women here deserve better than that. “It doesn’t matter what side of the fence that you want to sit on, laws like this affect all women regardless of what situation you’re in and it’s not right.”
On TwitterTwitter, Stell reflected on the loss of her baby, which was due to be born in May.
