Tennessee woman denied abortion after fetus’ ‘brain not attached’ slams state ban

A Tennessee woman who was denied an abortion despite a severe abnormality that meant her fetus would die during the pregnancy says the state’s anti-abortion laws resulted in her losing an ovary, a fallopian tube, and her hopes for a large family.

“The state of Tennessee took my fertility from me,” Breanna Cecil, 34, told The Independent. State lawmakers “took away my opportunity to have a family like my own biological family because of these horrible laws that they put in place.”

The mother-of-one said she has never felt the same since she was told by her doctor in January 2023 that her fetus was diagnosed with acrania, a fatal condition in which the fetus has no skull bones.

Then 12 weeks pregnant, Ms Cecil was getting her first ultrasound. She attended the appointment alone, so when the doctor told her that the fetus was not viable outside of the womb, she steeled herself and asked the doctor what she should do.

Except the state’s near-total abortion ban prevents anyone from getting the procedure if there is still a heartbeat. Her fetus still had a heartbeat.

The law makes no specific exceptions for fatal fetal conditions and also criminalizes physicians who perform the procedure outside of the allowed exceptions, meaning no Tennessee doctor could legally give her an abortion despite it being clear her fetus could not survive.

Ms Cecil recalled the doctor not knowing how to advise her given the circumstances. “That’s something that no one should ever hear,” she noted.

The doctor did, however, set her up with a specialist, where another ultrasound was conducted. That scan was more difficult, she says, because the severity of the fetus’ condition. “I could see the brain not attached,” Ms Cecil said.

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