Keshia’s Story
For two years, Keshia and her husband had planned and tried for their fourth pregnancy. On Dec. 31, 2022, she finally got a positive pregnancy test.
They were “over the moon excited.”
But just days later, Keshia developed bacterial pneumonia after influenza A. She was hospitalized and was fighting for her life. While in intensive care, Keshia realized she was also miscarrying.
Already weakened from being sick, her body could not complete the miscarriage on its own. Keshia says the medical professionals at St. Luke’s were astounding and did everything they could to provide compassionate care. But because of Idaho’s abortion ban, they were too afraid to perform the treatment she needed until her life was at risk. Which happened when she eventually developed sepsis.
“I was forced to go septic to receive care.” It was January 2023, just months after Idaho’s abortion ban went into effect. What began as a New Year filled with the joy of a long-awaited pregnancy became an experience that left her and her family traumatized and afraid.
“I was forced to go septic to receive care.”
Keshia described a recovery that was longer and more complicated than after that of delivering any of her previous children. Alongside the pregnancy loss and effects on her mental health, she was trying to help her children through the terror they experienced at the prospect of losing their mother.
The experience was so traumatic that it ultimately changed her family’s plans. She and her husband did not want to risk putting their family through another situation like this with the dangers Idaho women face.
