A few hours earlier, my newborn son had passed away less than 30 minutes after I had given birth. In that hospital hallway, although I’d physically survived, something in me turned off so I could mentally survive. It was explained to me that these terminations weren’t the violent, graphic act often plastered on “pro-life” posters, but merely an early induction and delivery, with palliative care for a baby that wouldn’t survive. Going to work and running errands as a young woman with a baby who will die is torturous. My body was postpartum and confused without a baby, and that in itself was painful and confusing.
