AUSTIN, Texas — Two years ago, Georgia Pellegrini was pregnant, excited and desperately wanted her baby boy. But doctors discovered he had a rare condition.
"[They said] his bladder wasn't draining and that he wasn't making amniotic fluid, which meant that without that amniotic fluid, he would ultimately suffocate to death," Pellegrini said.
Doctors said it was just a matter of time before her baby would die in her womb.
"They told me I had no options in Texas and that they weren't even allowed to write my options down on a piece of paper," Pellegrini said.
Since she had no choice, Pellegrini said she left Texas to receive abortion care in New York.
"There was just a lot of extra trauma layered on having to leave the state," Pellegrini said. "I think about him every day and think about it could have been different, but I don't for a second question whether it was the right decision."
Stories like these are why a group of more than 100 OB/GYNs in Texas sent a letter to elected state leaders on Sunday, urging them to change abortion laws. The doctors referred to reporting in ProPublica on two pregnant women in Texas who died after medical staff delayed emergency care.
Dr. John Thoppil, the immediate past president of the Texas Association of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, is part of that group.
"We probably wouldn't have had these two deaths if we didn't have these laws in place," Thoppil said.
While the Texas Medical Board clarified that doctors do not need to wait until there is an imminent risk to patients who treat them, Thoppil said it is not enough. The law allows the public to sue doctors or anyone who helps perform an abortion for $10,000.
"While you might survive in a court of law, it doesn't stop you from going through the trials and tribulations of a lawsuit that's probably unfounded. So, you can imagine how doctors are fearful. You know, you might go to jail on making a judgment call," Thoppil said.
Amy O'Donnell with Texas Alliance for Life said the law is clear when it comes to medical exceptions.
"Physicians have to provide the standard of care, exercising their reasonable medical judgment to perform life-saving abortions before the threat to the mother's life becomes imminent. And Texas law allows that," O'Donnell said.
As the future of reproductive rights hangs in the air, Pellegrini is asking that her story not repeat itself.
"We're leaving these scars that I think are going to have a generational trickle down," she said. "And I sincerely hope we stop it."