Tennessee's abortion law threatened my life. I'm suing on behalf of my deceased daughter.
Tennessee’s politicians are passing cruel laws against something they know nothing about − medically essential abortions.
I needed one, and it was traumatizing for me and my family that I had to leave Tennessee to get it. Tennesseans must be able to get the care they need at home.
A lifelong Tennessean, I became a single mom at age 22, working three jobs to support my daughter while earning my degree.
Adalie is 6 now and like me, she’s very social and a little stubborn. About the time she turned 3, I reconnected with a former high school boyfriend and we got married last year.
Bryan is such a great stepfather and we both wanted to grow our family. We were ecstatic to learn we were pregnant last November. Each night, at bedtime, Adalie would lie next to me and sing "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" while rubbing my belly.
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I could not legally get an abortion in Tennessee
Early on, we learned we were having a girl. We named her Miley Rose, after the song “Flowers” by Miley Cyrus.
At 19 weeks, I brought Adalie along with me to share in what I thought would be a routine anatomy scan. But after the scan, I saw a high-risk maternal fetal medicine specialist who explained that Miley’s kidneys, bladder and stomach had not formed as expected and were not functioning.
Two of the four chambers of her heart were also not working. She had little-to-no amniotic fluid. She had stopped growing. There were no signs of lung development. She also had a rare brain condition. We were told she had no chance at life.
It was definitive.
The doctor suggested there were two options– either terminating the pregnancy, or continuing, knowing she would not survive.
Because of Tennessee’s cruel ban on abortion, an essential medical procedure, I could not legally get an abortion in my home state. I would have to travel out of state, and my doctor told me that Tennessee law prevented her from offering me any resources in that effort.
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Our daughter died, but the risk to me was still great
Although there was no way of knowing how much longer Miley Rose would survive inside my womb, the longer she was there, the more risk there was to my health and safety. I made the decision to have an abortion.
Instead of being able to grieve for her and the future we dreamed of, I had to scramble and start calling clinics in the states that allowed second trimester abortions, book flights, find hotels and arrange transportation. And figure out how to pay for it all.
Thankfully, I found a clinic in New York City that could get me in the following week. After I arrived at the clinic, I learned that Miley Rose’s heart was no longer beating.
Completely broken, I had to call Bryan and tell him over the phone that our daughter was gone. But the risk to me was not over. The doctor told me that my body hadn’t recognized that she had died, and that there was about a 2-week window before I would become severely at risk of blood clots and infections, including sepsis.
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I can honor my daughter Miley Rose through my testimony
Within an hour, I went into surgery alone. I sat in recovery alone. I grieved the loss of my daughter alone, in a city I’d never been to, around doctors I’d never met before, far from my family. I am so grateful for the caring professionals who treated me with such dignity, but I should never have had to leave home for humane health care–abortion care.
I realized that sharing my experience publicly could be a powerful way to honor Miley Rose.
That is why I’m joining the Center for Reproductive Rights’ case against Tennessee; it’s why I documented my heartbreaking experience on TikTok. It’s why I’m going to keep fighting these dangerous laws. The autonomy to make personal medical decisions about our lives and futures and health care must be returned to patients like me and our doctors.
Allyson "Allie" Phillips, a Tennessee mother and plaintiff in the case filed Sept. 11 against the State of Tennessee on behalf of three women who were denied abortions in dire situations.
