Please remind me, is it 2024? Because there are days when it feels less like the third decade of the 21st century and more like an episode of the Twilight Zone or Black Mirror from which we cannot escape. Especially if you are a woman or part of a marginalized minority group.
In today’s episode, we are focusing on women specifically, and on something that seemingly everyone these days thinks they can have a say in: their bodies. While Donald Trump rambles — as he did during the Sept. 10 presidential debate — about babies being executed after they are born, which, needless to say, doesn’t happen anywhere in America, real American women are suffering unspeakable horrors on account of laws written and passed largely by people who don’t have and never will have a uterus; by people who will never experience — or even witness, for that matter — the suffering that comes from complications related to pregnancy and giving birth.
Trump’s preposterous claim that babies are being killed at nine months would almost be laughable if stories like Shelby Gambrell’s did not exist. Instead, these factually incorrect absurdities are enraging precisely because they distract from the pressing issues being lived by everyday Americans; issues that have only been exacerbated following the overturning of Roe v. Wade’s protections, which Trump has proudly admitted having a hand in engineering via his hand-picked Supreme Court judges.
Although Shelby’s story ultimately had a happy ending because her daughter was born, her tale, which she shared on her TikTok account, is hard to imagine even for those who have gone through the often-excruciating experience of being in labor. Because of unconscionable laws that seek to control women’s bodies to the point where both the mother and the baby can suffer as a result, Shelby had to endure the unimaginable pain of contractions for not one, not two, not even three days, but for a total of 34 agonizing days.
Shelby’s story
I cannot even fathom what it would feel like to have aggressive period cramps for 34 days straight, so I wholeheartedly stand behind Shelby when she uses the word “traumatic” to describe being in labor for over a month. And for what? Surely not for her sake, or the sake of her baby.
Shelby is primarily a BookTokker. However, upon being asked by one of her followers, she decided to share her traumatic experience, which only happened as a result of her state’s laws.
In 2022, Shelby was pregnant with her second child when she started experiencing contractions a couple of weeks before the 39 weeks of full term. She endured 72 hours of pain before her midwife finally convinced her to go to the hospital. She went to labor and delivery a total of seven times, and every time she was sent back home unwillingly.
She was given morphine six times for the pain, which makes one wonder how that is a better medical decision than, under these circumstances, inducing birth at 37 weeks. Thirty-seven weeks is considered early term, however that does not mean the baby will necessarily be unhealthy or suffer complications. There are some increased risks, but with the appropriate medical care, these can be easily minimized.
“Appropriate medical care” is a key phrase here. Due to laws like this wherein medical professionals cannot induce before 39 weeks if the baby’s life is not in danger — such is the case in Shelby’s state of Utah, and a few other states — the word “appropriate” has become unbelievably hard to define. This has become even more challenging in the lead-up to the state’s attempt to enact a near-total abortion ban that was only put on hold as recently as August.
This 39-week inducement law is based on research that babies born before the 39-week mark are at slightly higher risks of developing certain health complications. However, as it often happens in states with such laws, when enough ambiguity reigns over a situation, healthcare professionals tend not to risk stepping outside the parameters of the law. Never mind that the mother has been suffering unimaginable pain for weeks or that both she and the baby are being administered morphine half a dozen times to regulate pain. Who cares about that? Some lawmakers certainly don’t.
Shelby’s TikTok was met with a tidal wave of support. She later posted a short video thanking everyone who took the time to leave words of kindness and encouragement.
I shall end this article with Kamala Harris’ words during the September presidential debate, because not only do they echo the importance of a comprehensive change to reproductive rights in the country, but they come from the mouth of the woman who, if elected, can bring this change to fruition:
“One does not have to abandon their faith, or deeply held beliefs, to agree that the government, and Donald Trump certainly, should not be telling a woman what to do with her body.”