Mom fighting abortion bans after her daughter's death points to her homeland as a cautionary tale
The Dominican Republic's total abortion ban prevented her 16-year-old daughter from getting timely medical care to treat her cancer. This can happen in the U.S., she says.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/mom-abortion-ban-daughter-death-dominican-republic-rcna43600
On the eve of the anniversary of her daughter's death Tuesday night, Rosa Hernández was having trouble falling asleep. She said she could still feel the presence of her 16-year-old child Rosaura "Esperancita" Almonte Hernández, who died a decade ago when she had leukemia. Doctors had delayed giving Rosaura chemotherapy because she was pregnant, and they didn't want to harm the fetus.
"I stayed up thinking about how I used to care for her and the meals I used to cook for her," Hernández told NBC News in Spanish from her home in the Dominican Republic, one of two dozen nations in the world with a ban on abortions under all circumstances, even when a woman’s life is at risk.
"Abortion bans go against health," Hernández said. "What happened to my daughter can now happen in the United States" after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and opened the door for states to outlaw abortions. "This is monstrous."
Ten years since Rosaura's death, Hernández has embarked on a fight to seek justice for her only child, change abortion laws in her country and warn others about the deadly consequences of abortion bans.