Texas woman credits abortion for her son, giving him the initials 'R.O.E.'

A Texas woman claims she had to leave the state for a so-called "medically necessary" abortion, and after having her next child, intentionally gave him the initials "R.O.E." to celebrate abortion.

Key Takeaways:

• Travis and Taylor Edwards got pregnant with both of their children through in vitro fertilization (IVF).

• Their first child was diagnosed with a neural tube defect that doctors said would be fatal.

• Not wanting to carry a child who would not live long after birth, Edwards chose to undergo a late-term abortion.

• This left her with such extensive scarring that her uterus had to be surgically reconstructed before she could have another child.

• Her son was named Reid Owen Edwards, so he could have the initials "ROE," for Roe v. Wade.

The Details:

In an interview with "Abortion in America," Edwards told the story of her two pregnancies, which both resulted from IVF, and also spoke to PEOPLE about her experiences. "With IVF and infertility, you are always waiting for the other shoe to drop," she said, noting that after reaching the 12-week mark, she thought she was safe. "I was like, 'Finally. I've run a marathon. I did it. It's my turn to be a mom.'"

At her 17-week ultrasound, however, their daughter, Phoebe, was diagnosed with encephalocele, a rare neural tube defect in which the brain protrudes through an opening in the skull. While the condition may be treated with surgery, it is not always a possibility if the condition is too severe. Currently, the mortality rate is estimated to be 55%.

When the ultrasound technician noticed something was wrong, the doctor came in to deliver the news.

"We see it on the screen, and it's like a bubble, and it's... her skull is not closed, and her brain is coming out into it," she recalled. "And he didn't even say — he just said, 'This baby's not going to survive.' And I remember being like, 'Excuse me, can you say that again?' And he said, 'This baby will not survive.' And I said, 'I don't understand what you're telling me.' I said, 'Can we get surgery?' I said, 'I will travel, I will go to the best medical care, I will do whatever it takes.' And he's like, 'You're not — she is not going to live outside of you.'"

So she asked what her options were (emphases added):

"He said, you can continue your pregnancy if you'd like; this is what this will look like. You will come in weekly for scans, and wait for her to die inside of you so we can induce labor. Great, great option.

You can carry t[o] term, he said that's not likely, but you can, if you carry t[o] term and we do labor, she will suffocate to death in front of you.

Or you can terminate your pregnancy, which is going to be the best option for your future fertility. Because he knew we wanted to be parents.And that was the fastest way we could try again for another baby."

She added, "I knew I didn't want to be pregnant anymore." 

How Taylor finally became a mom—and why she had to leave the state first

Zoom In:

She complained that, due to Texas laws protecting preborn children from abortion, she would have to travel out of state for the procedure. The doctor referred her to an abortion facility in New Mexico, but refused to give her any more information about what the procedure would actually entail.

"He was like, 'You're going to have a D&E, which is probably the better, faster, safer route for you anyways.' And I said, 'What does that look like?' He's like, 'They'll be able to tell you that, I can't,'" she said. "I mean, the options were just grim, right? I think for me, a lot of the not wanting to be pregnant anymore was hurt, not wanting to prolong her suffering was a lot of it. And I didn't want my experience with labor and delivery, my first experience to be death. I just didn't."

A dilation and evacuation, or D&E, abortion procedure is typically a multi-day procedure, though some abortionists will attempt it in one day. In the multi-day procedure, the abortionist first inserts laminaria, or sanitized seaweed, into the woman's cervix to begin the process of dilation. The laminaria absorbs liquid from the woman's body, expanding and therefore, dilating her cervix over the course of about two days before the actually procedure is committed.

When the woman returns to the abortion facility, the abortionist may administer anesthesia, and use dilating rods to open her cervix further. He will then insert a suction catheter to remove amniotic fluid from her womb before using a sopher clamp to dismember the preborn baby, limb from torso.

The abortionist must then locate the baby's head in the womb with the forceps, and it is then grasped and crushed. Once the sharp pieces of the child's skull are removed, the abortionist uses a curette to scrape the uterus, removing the placenta and any remaining parts of the baby.

Afterwards, either the clinic staff or the abortionist must essentially reassemble the baby's body to account for two arms, two legs, a spine, etc., to ensure nothing was missed.

2nd Trimester Abortion | Dilation and Evacuation (D&E) | What Is Abortion?

There are numerous known complications for this procedure, including perforation or laceration of the uterus or cervix, along with damage to the bowel, bladder, rectum and other maternal organs. Any remaining scar tissue or internal damage may make future pregnancies more difficult.

The appointment in New Mexico fell through, so Edwards traveled to Denver instead, when she was 19 weeks pregnant. She did undergo a D&E, and after returning to Texas, immediately started trying to have another baby. But she had complications from the abortion. She said:

"We needed to check the state of my uterus. And it was not good.

I had a lot of retained tissue and scarring. So there's like a time frame with an abortion procedure where after a certain gestation, things escalate and they get more expensive and multi-day.

And because of the delay, I was a multi-day procedure and it presented a lot of risk to me. And I ended up having to have full reconstructive surgery of my uterus afterwards because of the scarring that was left.

And my doctor told me it was because of the delay in care that caused this deep scarring."

This claim doesn't seem to add up; first of all, "retained tissue" would have been a sepsis risk, and there would likely be symptoms associated with this in the days and weeks that followed. Secondly, she received her diagnosis at 17 weeks and had the abortion two weeks later. Even if she had been given an abortion immediately after receiving the diagnosis, it still likely would have been a D&E, as her original doctor said, and the scarring she experienced is a known complication, as the procedure involves the dismemberment and crushing of bones that have begun to calcify. (D&E abortions are usually done between 14 and 22 weeks of pregnancy.)

Ultimately, she was able to have another baby — a boy she claims was only possible due to her abortion. And she believes it so strongly that she even named her child in honor of it:

"We didn't have a name picked out. And we were like 10 days out from when he was born. And we've gone back and forth and we had a short list, and Reid and Owen were both on that list.

And they were names I really liked and was having a hard time choosing between. And I think I was like literally in the shower, and Travis came in and was like, 'If we name him Reid Owen Edwards, his initials will be R-O-E.' And I said, 'Oh, that's it. That's the one.' It's just part of his story. He wouldn't be here if I wasn't given an abortion."

Why It Matters:

Edwards frames her abortion as necessary, both to prevent her daughter from suffering and to save her own life and fertility. However, there are no indications that carrying a baby that will not survive long after birth poses greater danger to the mother than a healthy baby does.

This argument is in the same vein as that of now-retired late-term abortionist Warren Hern, who argued that pregnancy itself is a disease worthy of making an abortion "medically necessary," even without any existing complications.

And while babies with neural tube defects like encephalocele can feel pain, that would be further reason to not undergo an abortion. Rather than being born and passing away peacefully in her mother's arms, Phoebe was dismembered. Preborn children can likely begin to feel pain at the end of the first trimester. What would be likely to cause more suffering?

As Live Action News previously reported:

According to Doctors on Fetal Pain, because fetal pain is already understood, “fetal anesthesia is routinely administered” when a baby needs surgery while still in the womb, “and is associated with a decrease in stress hormones compared to their level when painful stimuli are applied without such anesthesia.” 

The Bottom Line:

Abortion doesn't prevent suffering; it simply causes more of it.

It is heartbreaking to learn that your child will likely not survive long after birth. But that doesn't mean that child's life should intentionally be taken even sooner, or that doing so is somehow medically necessary.