{"id":265863,"date":"2026-05-10T18:35:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-10T18:35:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/265863\/"},"modified":"2026-05-10T18:35:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-10T18:35:09","slug":"im-carrying-an-unviable-pregnancy-this-mothers-day-florida-law-is-forcing-me-to-keep-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/265863\/","title":{"rendered":"I\u2019m carrying an unviable pregnancy this Mother\u2019s Day; Florida law is forcing me to keep it."},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>I moved to St. Petersburg a year ago to start my life. My husband and I bought our home here, we were married here, and we planned to build our family here. I am 36 years old. I spent my early adulthood putting my life on hold for work and to earn my PhD in microbiology. For us, this pregnancy was our Hail Mary \u2026 our \u201cone and done\u201d miracle.<\/p>\n

My husband comes from a strict, fundamentalist Baptist family. His father and brother were the head preachers in their hometown church. The sheer, overwhelming joy we felt when we found out I was pregnant was indescribable. I was at the end of my first trimester \u2014 the exact milestone when expectant parents are told it is finally \u201csafe\u201d to share the good news. I wasn\u2019t jumping the gun; we had waited patiently. We had spent the last couple of months picking out names, imagining baby furniture, and carefully selecting Mother\u2019s Day cards. Our plan was to go to our ultrasound, get the radiogram, and tuck that photograph inside the cards to send to our mothers as the ultimate Mother\u2019s Day reveal.<\/p>\n

Instead, today (Friday), I found out I will be spending this Mother\u2019s Day trapped in a body carrying a pregnancy that is no longer viable, waiting for a state law to allow me to heal.<\/p>\n

Just hours ago, on the Friday morning before Mother\u2019s Day, we arrived for the ultrasound. Our appointment was delayed. We sat in the waiting room, watching other pregnant mothers walk out holding the photographs of their babies. I sat there imagining the exact moment I would be handed mine.<\/p>\n

When we were finally called back, the sonogram started, and then \u2026 nothing. The technician gently suggested I wasn\u2019t as far along as we thought and that we needed to do a more involved sonogram. I stepped out, got ready for the second scan, and then my worst nightmare happened. The screen was quiet. The doctor confirmed it: the pregnancy was not viable. It was not growing. I died inside. I finally thought I had done one thing right in my life, that I had something to look forward to, and in an instant, I had nothing.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

But the tragedy of losing a pregnancy is only half the nightmare when you live in Florida.<\/p>\n

Because I am a resident of this state, I cannot receive the immediate medical care required to expel this unviable pregnancy. As a scientist, I understand exactly what is happening inside my body. But rather than allowing my doctor to provide standard medical care so that my body can recover and my husband and I can try again, the law has tied their hands. I am forced to sit here, physically carrying the remnants of my shattered hopes, enduring an agonizing waiting game dictated by politicians rather than medical professionals.<\/p>\n

We have no baby. We have no radiogram. We have no Mother\u2019s Day cards to send.<\/p>\n

I am sharing this because what happened to me is a warning. To every woman of childbearing age in Florida, to every mother, sister, friend, and aunt: fucked up things happen here. Your worst nightmare can happen here. And when it does, the state of Florida will not offer you grace or medical care; it will force you to sit in your trauma and wait.<\/p>\n

Shame on you, Florida. Shame on the politicians who practice medicine without a license, forcing grieving women to become collateral damage in your political games. You took the most devastating moment of my life and turned it into state-mandated psychological torture. I deserved better, and so does every other woman in this state.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Oh, and by the way, happy Mother\u2019s Day.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Caitlin Howell (n\u00e9e Pegg) lives in St. Petersburg.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"I moved to St. Petersburg a year ago to start my life. My husband and I bought our…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":265864,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[114418,114419,28,114420,30,29,4833,49869,109913,7425,99845,108599,4070,50320,114421,114422,104739,114423,34473,114424,114425,17201,114426,114427,199,26625,114428,114429,87408],"class_list":["post-265863","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-baptist-family","tag-caitlin-howell","tag-florida","tag-florida-abortion-law","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news","tag-florida-politics","tag-healthcare-access","tag-healthcare-policy","tag-maternal-care","tag-maternal-health","tag-medical-freedom","tag-mental-health","tag-microbiology","tag-miscarriage","tag-miscarriage-care","tag-mothers-day","tag-nonviable-pregnancy","tag-physicians","tag-pregnancy-complications","tag-pregnancy-loss","tag-public-health","tag-reproductive-healthcare","tag-reproductive-rights","tag-st-petersburg","tag-state-law","tag-ultrasound","tag-womens-healthcare","tag-womens-rights"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/265863","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=265863"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/265863\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/265864"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=265863"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=265863"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=265863"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}