Australian Broadcasting Corporation's "Foreign Correspondent" - A Right to Choose
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Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s “Foreign Correspondent” - A Right to Choose featured our story as part of their episode how the abortion landscape in Missouri and Illinois represents the tug of war over abortion rights that is happening right now in the United States of America.
I wanted to welcome people that arrived to our site to learn more about our story, and share some additional information:
I am Robin Utz, and I have been married to my husband Jim for nearly 11 happy years. We live in St. Louis, Missouri.
We tried for four years including two rounds of IVF and a prior miscarriage before becoming pregnant with our daughter Grace Pearl. But at her 20 week anatomy scan, we learned that she had a fatal fetal diagnosis, and would die upon birth. We chose a later abortion , sometimes called a termination for medical reasons (TFMR), rather than continuing the pregnancy and risking stillbirth, or choosing palliative care.
Obtaining our abortion was one of the most insulting, degrading experiences of my life simply because the Missouri state laws are designed to be judgemental and full of unnecessary delays and hurdles. You can learn more about them here and here, and because of them, I started telling my story more, both so people would know one reason that a person might obtain a later abortion, and also so people could know how terribly these laws treat people.
In the nearly five years since my abortion, I have learned that my situation and story is actually is not that rare; it’s that the stigma around talking about abortion is so deep, it’s hard to find storytellers willing to expose themselves to the misplaced criticism, judgment and condemnation from people that don’t walk in their shoes, or worse, would want to punish us anyway.
My husband and I now have a two year old living child after seven total years of trying and several additional infertility treatments. Her name is Hannah, after her sister Grace, and she is utterly delightful.
You can find some of the most helpful links to information here:
