CNN Newsroom: Rep. Robin Bartleman (D-FL) Discusses About The Six-Week Abortion Signed By Gov. DeSantis

Interview

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Oh, it's going to have an impact on every single one of us. Look, this is a very divisive topic and never in a million years did I ever think I would contemplate an (inaudible). But in reality, one in four women have had an abortion. And it is their right to make a decision what's best for them and their families.

I had a very much wanted pregnancy. A pregnancy that I went through infertility to get pregnant and at a point in my pregnancy, I found out that I had a fetal abnormality. And you could see it right on the ultrasound and there were serious issues and the doctor said you're going to have to make a decision about this pregnancy.

So my husband and I went home and we talked about it. And I was a special ed teacher so you can imagine what was going through my mind. And we talked and we talked and it is truly an agonizing, agonizing decision.

And I knew in my heart what I wanted, but I knew in my head what was - I should do. And so after weeks of contemplation, praying to my God, speaking to my clergy, I made the decision to go through with the procedure. But I kept praying, make the decision for me, make the decision for me.

And when I went in for that - the ultrasound, again, luckily, God made the decision for me and the pregnancy terminated on its own.

And I was grateful for that, but do you know what I was really grateful for? That I had the opportunity to make that decision. That I - it was a terrible process to go through, but it was my process to go through. It was my business.

When we discussed this, the only people in the room were my doctor, my husband and my God. The Florida legislature and Gov. Ron DeSantis did not belong in that room. And with this legislation, with the legislation they passed last session and this session, they have inserted themselves into that room and inserted themselves into the decision making process, which will impact every family in Florida.

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Yes.

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Well, this provision has not changed since last years and so we have real life situations going on right now without this bill even going into effect where doctors are afraid to make decisions. In Broward County where I am from, two women suffered from PPROM which is where your water breaks early.

Anya (ph) - these brave women share their stories. She went to the hospital. She asked for help. They told her to go home and wait. She delivered the fetus in a toilet. She hemorrhaged so much that she lost half the blood in her body according to her medical records. She had her - the doctor told her husband you need to prepare for the worst and she may not be able to have children now.

Shinae (ph), same situation, went to two hospitals. Nobody wanted to help her.

Deborah (ph) from Lakeland (ph) had - the fetus had Potter syndrome. She could not find two doctors to sign off to terminate that pregnancy. She was forced to carry that pregnancy without amniotic fluid in her body, which is very painful, and deliver her dead baby.

Now when you talk to the bill sponsors, they'll say, well, that's covered in the language. And I am saying it's not covered because we have four situations in Florida women - brave women that we know of who came forward and said no one should have to go through with this.

And so my language actually put the doctors - look, we know this is going to happen, let's give you some coverage. Because the doctors now in the state of Florida, they can't make the best decision because they're faced with a third degree felony charge. They're faced with losing their license.

I mean, it's crazy. So you have doctors who are playing lawyers and then you have lawyers who are playing doctors because in Deborah's (ph) situation, the hospital vetoed the decision to terminate the pregnancy.

Women are going to die because of this and because they refuse to clarify that language. They're going to be more Anyas (ph), and Deborahs (ph), and Annabelles (ph) and Shinaes (ph) in this world. That could have happened to me. This is a very, very dangerous bill.

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Thank you.

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