A middle-aged Indian woman had an abortion 15 years ago, and had since suffered stomach-ache. She later found out her abortion had failed, leaving her with a calcified fetus inside the body.
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The 52-year-old woman living in Jaipur, north India, said she was forced to take an abortion as her family didn't want her to have another child. The obstetrician confirmed the abortion was successful at that time. However, she had suffered from regular stomach-ache ever since. Though she had visited many doctors, they just gave her painkillers. In the last three years, she kept vomiting, and finally sought medical advice from an expert.
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A scan showed that she had some obstacles in her digestive system. Doctor Nilesh Junankar said “Due to the unusual report, we arranged a laparoscopy. Surprisingly, we found a four-month-old fetus inside, which is something extremely unusual.”
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“In opening up the stomach, you can see a completely-grown calcified fetus,” he added. The fetus was in a baby-shape with its head and body clearly shown. The hospital team helped her get the dead fetus out and also removed 4 inches of her intestine. She has now been discharged.
PHOENIX (AP) — A proposed repeal of Arizona’s near-total ban on abortions won approval from the state House Wednesday after two weeks of mounting pressure on Republicans over an issue that has bedeviled former President Donald Trump's campaign to return to the White House.
Three Republicans joined in with all 29 Democrats Wednesday to repeal a law that predated Arizona's statehood and provides no exceptions for rape or incest. If the Senate approves as expected, Arizona would allow abortions up to 15 weeks.
Their political ambitions imperiled by widespread opposition to a near-total abortion ban, Trump and U.S. Senate candidate Kari Lake had urged Arizona lawmakers to ease the restrictions. But until Wednesday, most state House Republicans repeatedly used procedural votes to block repeal, each time drawing condemnation from Democratic President Joe Biden, who has made his support for abortion rights central to his reelection campaign.
“Make no mistake, Arizonans are living in 1864 now because Donald Trump dismantled Roe v. Wade,” Democratic state Sen. Priya Sundareshan of Tucson said in a news conference Wednesday organized by the Biden campaign and the Arizona Democratic Party.
The repeal vote comes a day after Biden said Trump created a “health care crisis for women all over this country,” by hindering their access to care.
Dozens of people gathered outside the state Capitol before the House and Senate were scheduled to meet, then filled seats in the public gallery as lawmakers voted, many of them carrying signs or wearing shirts showing their opposition to abortion rights.
Arizona Republicans have been under intense pressure from some conservatives in their base, who firmly support the abortion ban, even as it's become a liability with swing voters who will decide crucial races including the presidency, the U.S. Senate and the GOP's control of the Legislature.
“I am disgusted today,” said GOP Rep. Rachel Jones, who voted against repeal. “Life is one of the tenets of our Republican platform. To see people go back on that value is egregious to me.”
The Arizona Supreme Court concluded the state can enforce a long-dormant law that permits abortions only to save the pregnant patient's life. The ruling suggested doctors could be prosecuted under the law first approved in 1864, which carries a sentence of two to five years in prison for anyone who assists in an abortion.
A week ago, one Republican in the Arizona House joined all Democrats to bring the repeal measure to a vote, but the effort failed twice on 30-30 votes.
The law had been blocked since the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1973 Roe v. Wade decision guaranteed the constitutional right to an abortion nationwide.
After Roe v. Wade was overturned in June 2022, then-Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich, a Republican, persuaded a state judge that the 1864 ban could be enforced. Still, the law hasn't actually been enforced while the case was making its way through the courts. Brnovich’s Democratic successor, Attorney General Kris Mayes, urged the state’s high court against reviving the law.
Mayes has said the earliest the law could be enforced is June 8, though the anti-abortion group defending the ban, Alliance Defending Freedom, maintains county prosecutors can begin enforcing it once the Supreme Court's decision becomes final, which is expected to occur this week.
If the proposed repeal wins final approval from the Republican-controlled Legislature and is signed into law by Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs, a 2022 statute banning the procedure after 15 weeks of pregnancy would become the prevailing abortion law.
Planned Parenthood officials vowed to continue providing abortions for the short time they are still legal and said they will reinforce networks that help patients travel out of state to places like New Mexico and California to access abortion.
This past summer, abortion rights advocates began a push to ask Arizona voters to create a constitutional right to abortion.
The proposed constitutional amendment would guarantee abortion rights until a fetus could survive outside the womb, typically around 24 weeks. It also would allow later abortions to save the parent's life, or to protect her physical or mental health.
Republican lawmakers, in turn, are considering putting one or more competing abortion proposals on the November ballot.
A leaked planning document outlined the approaches being considered by House Republicans, such as codifying existing abortion regulations, proposing a 14-week ban that would be “disguised as a 15-week law” because it would allow abortions until the beginning of the 15th week, and a measure that would prohibit abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, before many people know they're pregnant.
House Republicans have not yet publicly released any such proposed ballot measures.
FILE - Democratic state Rep. Stephanie Stahl Hamilton, sponsor of a proposal to repeal Arizona's near-total ban on abortion, speaks on the floor of the Arizona House in Phoenix on April 17, 2024. Democrats in the Arizona House are expected on Wednesday, April 24, to make another attempt to repeal the the long-dormant abortion law, which the state's highest court says can be enforced. (AP Photo/Matt York, File)
FILE - The historic Arizona Capitol building stands, April 11, 2024, in Phoenix. Democrats in the Arizona House are expected on Wednesday, April 24, to make another attempt to repeal Arizona's near-total abortion ban, which the state's highest court says can be enforced. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin, File)
