Posted on Apr 6, 2023
A Good Friday funeral in Texas. Baby Halo's parents had few choices in post-Roe Texas
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https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2023/04/06/ [login to see] /a-good-friday-funeral-in-texas-baby-halos-parents-had-few-choices-in-post-roe-te
Her name was Halo, and she was born last week, on March 29, two months early and weighing 3 pounds. She lived for four hours, dying in the arms of her father, Luis Villasana.
Her mother, Samantha Casiano, knew their baby wouldn't survive long because she had anencephaly – part of Halo's brain and skull never developed.
Now, they can't afford to give their newborn daughter the funeral they would like to give her.
'Crushed' at 20 weeks
Casiano got the diagnosis three days after Christmas, at a prenatal appointment when she was 20 weeks pregnant. "I was told that she's incompatible with life," she says. "I was crushed."
She asked her OB-GYN what her options were. Casiano says her doctor told her, "Well, because of the new law, you don't have any options. You have to go on with your pregnancy."
Her name was Halo, and she was born last week, on March 29, two months early and weighing 3 pounds. She lived for four hours, dying in the arms of her father, Luis Villasana.
Her mother, Samantha Casiano, knew their baby wouldn't survive long because she had anencephaly – part of Halo's brain and skull never developed.
Now, they can't afford to give their newborn daughter the funeral they would like to give her.
'Crushed' at 20 weeks
Casiano got the diagnosis three days after Christmas, at a prenatal appointment when she was 20 weeks pregnant. "I was told that she's incompatible with life," she says. "I was crushed."
She asked her OB-GYN what her options were. Casiano says her doctor told her, "Well, because of the new law, you don't have any options. You have to go on with your pregnancy."
A Good Friday funeral in Texas. Baby Halo's parents had few choices in post-Roe Texas
Posted from npr.org
Abortion
Pregnancy
Medical
Health
State of Texas
Posted 1 y ago
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PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
..."'Crushed' at 20 weeks
Casiano got the diagnosis three days after Christmas, at a prenatal appointment when she was 20 weeks pregnant. "I was told that she's incompatible with life," she says. "I was crushed."
She asked her OB-GYN what her options were. Casiano says her doctor told her, "Well, because of the new law, you don't have any options. You have to go on with your pregnancy."
Texas has among the strictest abortion laws in the country, with three overlapping bans. One abortion ban predated Roe v. Wade, another was triggered when Roe was overturned and comes with a maximum penalty of life in prison for providing an abortion in Texas. There's also SB-8, which allows people to bring civil charges for "aiding or abetting" an abortion in the state.
Samantha Casiano contacted a nonprofit in East Texas that set up a fundraising page for Halo's funeral and paid for professional maternity and birth photos.
Samantha Casiano contacted a nonprofit in East Texas that set up a fundraising page for Halo's funeral and paid for professional maternity and birth photos.
Casiano knew that Texas banned abortions, but she didn't think those laws would apply in a situation where the fetus was certain to die. But the laws do apply. A narrow exception allows for abortions when the mother's life or "a major bodily function" is in imminent danger, but there are no exceptions in Texas law for the diagnosis of a fetal anomaly, no matter how severe. In fact, very few states with abortion bans have such exceptions.
Casiano wishes she could have ended the pregnancy in Texas as soon as she got the anencephaly diagnosis.
"I should have had that choice – that right over my own body and over my daughter's body to be able to tell my daughter, 'It is time for you to rest,' because she was going to end up having to rest anyways," Casiano says."
..."'Crushed' at 20 weeks
Casiano got the diagnosis three days after Christmas, at a prenatal appointment when she was 20 weeks pregnant. "I was told that she's incompatible with life," she says. "I was crushed."
She asked her OB-GYN what her options were. Casiano says her doctor told her, "Well, because of the new law, you don't have any options. You have to go on with your pregnancy."
Texas has among the strictest abortion laws in the country, with three overlapping bans. One abortion ban predated Roe v. Wade, another was triggered when Roe was overturned and comes with a maximum penalty of life in prison for providing an abortion in Texas. There's also SB-8, which allows people to bring civil charges for "aiding or abetting" an abortion in the state.
Samantha Casiano contacted a nonprofit in East Texas that set up a fundraising page for Halo's funeral and paid for professional maternity and birth photos.
Samantha Casiano contacted a nonprofit in East Texas that set up a fundraising page for Halo's funeral and paid for professional maternity and birth photos.
Casiano knew that Texas banned abortions, but she didn't think those laws would apply in a situation where the fetus was certain to die. But the laws do apply. A narrow exception allows for abortions when the mother's life or "a major bodily function" is in imminent danger, but there are no exceptions in Texas law for the diagnosis of a fetal anomaly, no matter how severe. In fact, very few states with abortion bans have such exceptions.
Casiano wishes she could have ended the pregnancy in Texas as soon as she got the anencephaly diagnosis.
"I should have had that choice – that right over my own body and over my daughter's body to be able to tell my daughter, 'It is time for you to rest,' because she was going to end up having to rest anyways," Casiano says."
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Only the very cruel would force this to happen, torturing a woman, her husband, and their family, in order to force them to comply with religious beliefs that are not theirs, that are not in the Bible. These opinions, which are not from Christian churches, but from heretical protestant "bible" churches, where they talk idiocy about an imaginary Molech and bible passages which don't exist, like asserting that unbaptized children go to heaven. A person who dies in a state of sin and without the graces of baptism may not enter heaven, which means unbaptized children, according to their own philosophy, go to hell.
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