In an interview with 60 Minutes, a Texas woman revealed that she had an abortion during her second trimester of pregnancy, when her unborn child was 20 weeks old.
The woman, Dani Mathisen, is a doctor in the state. In 2021, she was 25-years-old and married to her high school sweetheart when she learned that she was expecting. At 20 weeks, a scan showed that the baby had a “lethal” condition.
“Her brain was not formed correctly. She only had one kidney. Her spine was so bent that it put pressure on her heart,” Mathisen said. “My daughter that I planned out to a tee, and we had already started to get little outfits and bath toys, was going to die.”
“It wasn't a question as to what we were going to do. It was a question of how we were going to do it without getting arrested,” she added, referring to the state’s pro-life law that does not allow abortion in cases where the baby has a fetal abnormality.
Mathisen’s mother, who is also a doctor, made an abortion appointment for her daughter in New Mexico.
“We paid for the abortion in cash so that there wasn't a paper trail of our Texas credit cards paying for an abortion,” Mathisen said.
“We paid for the abortion in cash so that there wasn't a paper trail of our Texas credit cards paying for an abortion,” says Dani Mathisen. At 20 weeks pregnant, she learned her baby girl had a lethal condition, and was forced to leave the state to get care. pic.twitter.com/OseMp5pZIt
— 60 Minutes (@60Minutes) November 4, 2024
In 2023, Mathisen joined a lawsuit with 19 other women who wanted to obtain abortions in Texas. The Texas Supreme Court rejected their case.
Join the Conversation
VIP members get the ability to comment on articles.