The financial burden is exacerbated by limited insurance coverage, hospital billing disputes, and long-term questions about birth injury lawsuits if the baby is born with complications.
A Choice Taken Away
The emotional toll is devastating — made worse by the fact that the family has no legal say in the matter.
“I think every woman should have the right to make their own decision,” Newkirk said. “And if not, then their partner or their parents.”
She emphasized they still don’t know what they would have chosen. But what hurts most is not having a choice in critical prenatal care decisions — a right that intersects with constitutional healthcare ethics and family law statutes.
“She’s pregnant with my grandson. But my grandson may be blind, may not be able to walk, wheelchair bound, we don’t know if he’ll live once she has him,” she said. “It should have been left up to the family because, I’m in my fifties, her dad is in his fifties, so we’re gonna have the responsibility with her partner to raise her sons.
