a woman in Ireland went into the hospital smiling.
she was miscarrying, but she still had a heartbeat.
the fetus didn’t.
the doctors said it out loud: nonviable.
she asked for an abortion anyway because she could feel her body turning on her.
she was bleeding. she was in pain. she was terrified.
the nurse said:
“as long as there’s a heartbeat, we can’t.”
she begged:
“so you’re waiting for what?”
and the doctor said, calmly:
“nature.”
“nature” was her fever spiking overnight.
“nature” was her organs shutting down one by one.
“nature” was her husband holding her hand while she vomited and shook and cried.
she whispered:
“please. don’t let me die.”
the hospital told her:
“we’re monitoring.”
she died anyway.
and after, everyone acted shocked like this wasn’t exactly what the policy was designed to do.
they called it a “medical tragedy.”
but it was murder with paperwork.