I found myself in a situation I never thought I would be in when I was forced to travel nearly 1,500 miles for abortion care — something I was denied in my home state of Louisiana.
In that moment, I experienced not only a denial of necessary medical care, but also a denial of compassion and my right to make my own decision about my own health. Every day, I carry the trauma of this experience with me.
I am turning my pain into purpose. In July, I stood with other patients and local leaders at Free & Just’s Ride to Decide national bus tour event in Baton Rouge and demanded action to protect reproductive freedom so that no one else would have to suffer like I did.
When I was 10 weeks pregnant, doctors informed me that my baby had acrania, a rare condition that was fatal for my baby and dangerous for me. I was heartbroken and scared, but I trusted that I would receive the necessary medical treatment so that I could begin healing. I was wrong.
Just a few weeks before I received my diagnosis, the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and eliminated the legal right to abortion. The fallout from the decision was swift, and states across the country immediately began enforcing cruel and dangerous abortion bans. Louisiana has some of the strictest abortion laws in the country, and even though I needed to terminate my pregnancy to protect my health and safety, I was told I could not receive care at the hospital in Baton Rouge.
Instead of processing the diagnosis and grieving the loss of my pregnancy at home with my family, I found myself scrambling to find a way out of Louisiana. Ultimately, I was forced to travel nearly 1,500 miles to another state to access the medical care I needed.
The experience left me with deep physical and emotional scars. I felt dehumanized and stripped of my most fundamental rights. I knew what I needed to do to protect my health and my doctors agreed. But local lawmakers who will never know me or understand my situation had the final say. The system failed me, and I am just as outraged today as I was then.
Pregnancy and childbirth can be dangerous, particularly for Black women, who are three times more likely to die from a pregnancy-related cause than White women. Instead of expanding access to care and empowering women to make their own health care decisions, anti-abortion lawmakers are actively making pregnancy even more dangerous. It’s no surprise that here in Louisiana, where access to health care is already limited and extremists are working to roll back our rights even further, we have one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the country.
What happened to me was unacceptable, and unfortunately, I am not alone. Pregnant women in states like Louisiana, Georgia, Texas, Florida and North Carolina are being turned away from hospitals when they need emergency care to protect their health and safety. The restrictive abortion laws in these states are killing women, delaying critical medical care and forcing them into life-threatening situations. Lives are at risk right now, but anti-abortion extremists want to go even further. They remain committed to banning abortion nationwide even though the majority of Americans support protecting access to abortion. We can’t let extremists drag us backward even further.
Our voices and our stories are powerful tools in the fight to protect reproductive freedom. That is why I founded the Nancy Davis Foundation in 2022. Our mission revolves around advocating for reproductive justice, maternal health and support for women and families like my own who have been devastated by attacks on access to care. Sharing my story can be difficult, but I know that it’s important, and I am committed to empowering others to raise their voices and demand better.
The stakes could not be higher. Attacks on abortion access and reproductive freedom will continue to escalate, and lives will be turned upside down. We have to push back. I’m fighting for my children, for your children and for generations to come. We want a future where health care decisions are made by doctors, not politicians, and where every woman has access to the care and respect she deserves.
Nancy Davis is the founder and president of the Nancy Davis Foundation, an organization that supports those who have endured trauma due to a prenatal developmental defect during pregnancy and advocates for reproductive justice.
