Kristen and Steve were expecting their first child. Kristen had had two miscarriages, so she and Steve were so excited when they made it to 20 weeks in this pregnancy. They were eagerly anticipating the anatomy ultrasound, when they would find out their baby‘s sex. It was a girl! But then the terrible news: her heart was malformed. Kristen and Steve were referred immediately to a pediatric heart surgeon, who told them that their daughter would need several surgeries to have a chance of surviving her heart defect, and she might not live through each operation. Even if the surgeries were successful, there was a substantial chance that she would be severely disabled. Kristen and Steve decided with great anguish that they could not put their little girl through so much pain and suffering without a reasonable chance that she would have a normal childhood. They chose to end the pregnancy.

Kristen was now 23 weeks pregnant. Her insurance company did not cover abortion unless it was medically necessary. Because Kristen was healthy, she and her doctor had to go to great lengths to convince the insurance company that the procedure was medically necessary for the baby. Ultimately, Kristen was able to have her insurance cover the abortion, but if she had been on Medicaid or worked for the state or federal government, she and Steve would have been left with overwhelming medical bills. No family deserves to be punished like that.