South Carolina mom calls out state law after being told she must wait weeks for medical treatment after her unborn baby ‘died in’ her

A South Carolina mother claims that doctors have denied her access to miscarriage management despite the fact that her pregnancy has been determined to be medically nonviable. Content creator Ashley Brown told her followers that she would have to return for two follow-up appointments even though it would be an “impossibility” that her unborn child could survive.

Brown, a popular content creator who shares videos about her life as a mother to three neurodivergent children, announced to her followers that she was experiencing her sixth miscarriage on June 9 as per PEOPLE. In the video where she announced the sad news she also explained that she was being denied miscarriage management.

According to Brown, her six-week scan which involved blood tests, and an ultrasound. The tests revealed that her pregnancy would not be viable. However, Brown was told that she must wait as, according to South Carolina law, they have to go by the ultrasound.

This would require Brown to return for two follow up appointments before her doctor is legally permitted to perform a D&C (dilation and curettage), which is a procedure where tissue is removed from the uterus after a miscarriage or during surgical abortions.

Ashley Brown has to wait

In the caption of her post Brown explained that she understood why the law was in place as “it is so common for someone to not be as far along as they think and see a viable pregnancy the next ultrasound.” However, she admitted that she felt that it was “cruel to feel pregnant and awful for 3 more weeks when there’s no baby.” 

In Brown’s case she explains that it is an “impossibility” that her pregnancy is viable. The procedure in her state has made an already difficult situation much worse. “We are heartbroken over this loss” she writes at the end of the caption, adding, “miscarriage care shouldn’t be like this.”

In an update video Brown brought the camera with her on the way to her second appointment as she explains, “My baby died in me almost two weeks ago, but we have to make sure it’s really dead two more times before they’ll help me remove it.” Brown described going through prenatal paperwork and blood tests “knowing there’s no baby” as “traumatizing.”

She also claims that she is at risk of going septic due to the dead cells in her uterus. Brown is now looking at options out of state and has apparently contacted clinics in Florida in order to get D&C. 

She also explains that she’s in a “gray area where technically I’m over 6 weeks but it’s not viable and there is no heart beat.” In South Carolina abortions are prohibited past six weeks which was enacted after the overturning of Roe v. Wade. However, there are exceptions in certain circumstances such as rape, incest or medical emergencies.