'It's not something that's taken lightly': Rochester woman details abortion decision

Jul. 26—ROCHESTER — If you told Abby Shepler two years ago that she would experience the whirlwind of medical issues she has endured, she wouldn't believe you.

"It's been really intense," the 28-year-old said. "It's been so surreal."

Two years ago, the Virginia Beach, Va., native started getting really sick — what she thought was food poisoning or the stomach flu lingered for weeks, eventually leading to a trip with her mother to the emergency room.

After months of testing, Shepler was diagnosed with a rare chronic condition called gastroparesis. It's a disorder that slows the movement of food from your stomach to your small intestine. "It's basically like paralysis of the stomach," she said. The diagnosis meant frequent, long hospital stays, severe malnutrition, IVs and feeding tubes.

A year after her diagnosis, in March 2021, Shepler found out she was 14 weeks pregnant while being admitted to a hospital for a feeding tube because of severe malnutrition. She didn't have any indications that she was pregnant — Shepler hadn't had her period regularly since before her gastroparesis diagnosis, instead spotting frequently. She also had been losing weight for months.

The doctors explained that while it was possible to keep the pregnancy, it would be "really risky" and Shepler would need to constantly be hooked up to a feeding tube and on bed rest for the duration of the pregnancy.

After weighing every outcome and looking at every option, she made a serious, life-altering health care decision because of her medical issue: She had an abortion.

"The thing that was so hard about it is how badly I wanted to keep it," Shepler said. "It just wasn't a feasible option for me and my condition. And after a lot of research, and speaking with my doctors and going to appointments speaking with counselors, I decided that the only safe option for me would be to terminate the pregnancy."

Two weeks later, Shepler had the abortion — which would now be illegal in 12 states.

"It was the most physically, mentally and emotionally painful experience for me," she said. "Not a day goes by that I don't think about it."

Shepler decided to share her experience following the June 24 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, which overturned the Roe v. Wade decision that protected access to abortion care. She felt "extremely fortunate for the safety and the support of the medical professionals that were there for me to terminate this extreme, this high risk pregnancy under their care."

Shepler was already battling gastroparesis, and still faces it every day. Now, she also has cervical cancer.

"Had (the doctors) not been able to lend their knowledge and support to this decision — that was not made lightly — I do believe that the outcome would have jeopardized my life completely," she said.

Shepler said, even though access to abortion care in Minnesota is still legal, "people need to realize" that receiving abortion care is "still not an easy process,"

given the restrictions state law

has in place. But, on June 11, a Ramsey County judge ruled many of these restrictions unconstitutional because the laws violate the right to privacy under the state constitution.

"There's a lot of weight that falls on the shoulders of a lot of women," she said. "I don't know if people realize that there's a lot that goes into that process. It's not like you just walk into a clinic and you just get it done. It's not something that's taken lightly."

Shepler is worried about the future of life after the Dobbs decision, referencing

some fears that others have expressed

.

"Ultimately, if the health and safety of mothers is cast aside by this ruling, women will be endangered not only due to personal medical complications, but also by seeking alternative methods of abortion that put them at risk," she said, referring to the idea of performing abortions away from doctors or illegally, which could open the door to a host of complications that could endanger the woman.

Whether people realize it or not, "abortion care has impacted the life of someone they know and love," Shepler said. "There is no one narrow portrait of the type of person who has access to reproductive care."

Every situation is different: some women are already mothers. Some are facing medical conditions. Some are married, and some are single. Some are victims of assault.

"I'd like for people to approach this topic with the understanding that the women they love may not be where they are today if their right to choose had been stripped from them," she said.