Life of pregnant American woman in Malta in danger because much-needed abortion is not allowed | Abroad

Andrea Prudente (38) and her partner Jay (45) were told that doctors should only intervene if Andrea goes into labor or if the fetal heart stops. “But they don’t do anything else,” her husband Jay Weeldreyer told the BBC. Now they find themselves in a terrible situation, hoping that their daughter’s heart will stop beating before Andrea develops a deadly infection.

“The bleeding and separation of the placenta from the uterus, with the membrane completely ruptured and the baby’s umbilical cord poking through Andrea’s cervix, puts her at an extremely high risk of infection, all of which could have been prevented,” said Weeldreyer. “The baby cannot live, there is nothing that can be done to change that. We wanted her, we still want her, we love her, we wish she could survive, but she won’t. And not only are we in a situation where we lose a daughter we wanted, but the hospital is also putting Andrea at risk for longer,” he adds.

The doctors advised Prudente to leave the hospital and wait in her hotel until the fetus’ heartbeat stops, or until she develops an infection, after which an intervention is possible. “I feel like I’m being actively traumatized,” the woman says.

The couple has been in the hospital for a week now, waiting for something to happen. After all, Andrea’s condition can quickly change at any time, but after waiting six days for one of the two terrible scenarios, Jay and his wife are exhausted, he says. “This procedure could have been done in two hours, without endangering Andrea, and giving us a chance to grieve. Instead, it’s a long drawn out thing, and you end up with very gloomy thoughts and you think, ‘How can this end?’”

The couple’s only hope is an emergency medical evacuation to the UK at the expense of their travel insurance, but the hospital initially refused to share Prudente’s medical record with the insurance company, the woman said. It was only after a lawyer was called in that the hospital accepted the request to pass on her medical information to her insurance. “I just want to get out of here alive,” said Prudente. “Even in my wildest dreams, I never thought I would end up in a nightmare like this.” By buying out her story, she hopes to save other women the same fate. “I don’t want this to happen to more people,” she says.

In 2017, another tourist was evacuated from Malta to France to undergo an urgent abortion. However, this is not an option for Maltese women. Malta is the only European country where there is a total ban on abortion, even if the fetus no longer has a chance of survival. Women in Malta who wish to have an abortion therefore only have the choice between purchasing illegal abortion medication online or having an abortion abroad.