“We were told that our baby had anencephaly at the 12-week scan. It is fatal. No chance of survival.”
So began a series of heartbreaking tweets from a woman living in Northern Ireland who live-tweeted having to travel for an abortion over the weekend.
“The midwife said we were ‘lucky’ because sometimes these defects can’t be seen until 20 weeks”.
The account, Rather be Home with the handle, @HomeRather, began tweeting 3 days ago, asking people to follow her and her husband on their journey to Liverpool.
The woman explained that it was the first time they had ever left their daughter saying how hard it was to leave knowing that both of them would be away for three days “to access health care that should be available at home.”
A bereavement specialist midwife went through the options available to the couple. They decided on cremation with a group service for their baby.
After taking the first part of the abortion pill the woman and her partner went back to their hotel to wait, and she described the heartbreaking situation in detail.
“Our plan, to spend the 48-hour wait cocooned in the hotel, is out the window. It’s too depressing, the “free Wifi” is free for 20 minutes and the TV doesn’t work. We’re starving, there’s no room service, so we’ll have to go out for food.”
The next day, they returned to the hospital for the rest of the medical abortion.
The baby, a little boy, was born at 2.03pm on Sunday 21st October.
“Slowly and softly we parted ways” the mother said.
The mother described leaving the room to clean herself up and returning to find her partner holding their baby and sobbing.
The woman shared how they had to leave their baby at the hospital and go back to the hotel to get ready to travel back to Northern Ireland.
“I should be at home, in the privacy of my own home. Instead, I’m trying to discreetly bleed in a shitty hotel. There’s no dignity here. There’s no privacy.”
At the time of writing, @RatherHome is still live tweeting the last part of her story. She has also tweeted her support of the NC2 Northern Ireland Bill and is asking the public to contact their MPs to ask them to sign it and show support for women who need abortions.
The bill is due to be presented to parliament on Tuesday by MP Diana Johnson. If it passes, abortion will no longer be a criminal offence in Northern Ireland.
