Doctors presented her with two devastating options: Wait until Theodora becomes viable around 24 weeks and deliver her, only to watch her die or live with a severe disability, or induce labor now and effectively terminate the pregnancy.
Elizabeth Weller and her husband, James, hold a frame with their daughter’s feet prints, ultrasound and sympathy card outside their Kingwood home on Wednesday, May 25, 2022.In late April, Elizabeth and James Weller stuck the week 17 ultrasound photo to their fridge, inside the four-bedroom Kingwood home they planned to fill. The young couple had already bought Houston Astros onesies and dark blue paint for the space-themed nursery, eagerly awaiting Theodora Rosario Weller’s due date in October.
Elizabeth Weller and her husband, James, talk about the ordeal they went through after Elizabeth’s water broke 18 weeks into her pregnancy in their Kingwood home on Tuesday, May 24, 2022.Elizabeth agonized over her choice. Then she realized she didn’t have one.
A pamphlet Elizabeth Weller was given after she was told her daughter would not survive if she was delivered.At first, Elizabeth questioned whether termination would be the right choice if the baby had a chance to survive. She has Erb’s palsy — weakness in one arm — and would not end her pregnancy based on disability alone.
When they considered this reality, James cried over Elizabeth’s belly as they began to say goodbye to Theodora. A frame with the Weller’s daughter footprints, ultrasound and sympathy card outside their Kingwood home on Wednesday, May 25, 2022.Back home in Kingwood, temperature checks became an obsession for Elizabeth and James.
Chapman told the couple she tried calling other Texas Medical Center hospitals, looking for a doctor who could induce her, but no one took up her plea. Texas Right to Life Legislative Director John Seago pushed back on the assertion that the law is ambiguous. For him, the language is clear: any elective abortion is an “injustice.”