AUSTIN, Texas — Amanda Zurawski wanted her baby girl. But at 18 weeks pregnant, she experienced severe complications.
Under Texas' near-total abortion ban, her doctors made her wait to get the care she needed.
"I had to wait until I almost died. Went into septic shock twice," Zurawski said. "We've been advised to go straight to IVF and to use a surrogate if we want to have children because of the damage that was done to my body – that which, by the way, was avoidable."
Kate Cox was pregnant with a baby that doctors said would not survive and carrying to term would jeopardize her health and any future pregnancies. She left Texas to get an abortion.
"I spent evenings sick on the bathroom floor instead of having dinner with my family," Cox said. "I spent nights in the ER instead of reading bedtime stories to my children."
Cox and Zurawski were two of several women who shared their stories Monday, offering feedback to the Texas Medical Board as it works to clarify the state's abortion ban.
In Texas, doctors can only perform abortions if a woman's life is in danger or she is at risk of losing a major bodily function.
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"I just don't think they've done enough yet," Zurawski said. "I think they've created a very extensive checklist, essentially, that doctors feel like now they have to meet before they can provide health care."
Stakeholders say instead of giving doctors direction, the proposed rule includes a list of questions for doctors to justify their decision, like asking doctors to document how the risk was determined, the decision-making they made to proceed with an abortion and whether there was time to transfer a patient "by any means available" to a facility with a higher level of care to avoid an abortion.
OBGYN professor Karin Fox is concerned about the practicality of transferring a patient.
"Maybe it's not imminent, but still, sometimes that patient's condition may deteriorate during a transport, which then puts that emergency medical services team, that ambulance driver or the paramedic, in dire straits," Fox said.
Houston woman Elizabeth Weller got the abortion she needed and said there needs to be more transparency to help Texas women.
"I hope that your rules are clear. I hope no one has to die because of this," Weller said. "They already have, probably."
After Monday's hearing, the medical board still has to approve the rule, go back for another comment period and will probably have an additional stakeholder meeting before it goes into effect.