Skip to main content

A Michigan lawmaker faced a terrible choice: Fight her cancer or have a baby


DETROIT — Positive. Again. 

For the second time in three days, Christine Morse looked at tests results that would change her life.

She hadn't come to terms with the cancer she'd learned about on Tuesday. She'd never even met her oncologist. Yet now, sitting in an MRI lab on a Friday to learn more about her potentially deadly diagnosis, she stared down at the new test her husband had hurriedly purchased. She was pregnant.

"I didn't know what it could mean, I didn't know if maybe I could try to carry the pregnancy, if it was possible to delay chemo. I didn't even know my treatment plan yet. And so that was running through my head — Is it possible, could I get treatment and still keep this pregnancy?" Morse said in a recent interview with the Detroit Free Press, which like Paste BN is a part of the Paste BN Network.  

She had to make a decision, one faced by tens of thousands of women in Michigan and across the country every year. Today, that already fraught decision is even more complicated in the wake of a new Texas law that severely restricts most abortion access, a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling that allowed the law to take effect and fears it could foreshadow the court more broadly overturning the right to abortion across the country.

In the spring of 2011, the debates weren't hypothetical for Morse. This wasn't a theoretical discussion about the court, unalienable rights or morality versus the law. Whatever she decided, it would stay with Morse for the rest of her life. 

Related story: Texas Gov. Greg Abbott defends abortion law, says state will 'eliminate rape'

Time was a luxury Morse could not afford. The then 38-year-old was a wife and mother to three children. All three kids were 10 years old or younger — at 15 months, the youngest had just finished breastfeeding.

They needed her to survive. She chose life.

Looking back, Morse still isn't sure she processed everything that happened a decade earlier. But the first-term Democratic state lawmaker knows the ramifications of her choices then reverberate through her actions to this day. 

'It was definitely panic time' 

Morse knew the lump under her left arm wasn't normal. But the new Kalamazoo, Michigan, resident didn't have a personal doctor yet, and every physician she called was booked. So, she waited.

About five or six weeks after she'd noticed some tenderness, the pain trickling down her arm and into her elbow worsened. Morse relented and went to the emergency room. 

It spurred a rapid series of events: the ER recommended a surgeon, who recommended she go to Bronson Breast Health Center in Kalamazoo. The specialists there requested an ultrasound, a mammogram and a biopsy, culminating in a grim prognosis: breast cancer. 

It was May 24, 2011, a date Morse instantly recalls. But her memory of a doctor's appointment three days later is fresher.

"It was an insane day because I was in the MRI lab to have my breast MRI. And you had to answer questions about whether you could be pregnant. ... When I couldn't answer the questions with comfort, my husband actually ran out and bought a pregnancy test and I did it in the MRI lab and found out I was pregnant there," Morse said.

Pregnancy tests can bring a blend of joy and terror, nervous anticipation coupled with reminiscence for a life that's about to change. 

For Morse, the results presented a terrible choice. 

A week after learning about her cancer and pregnancy, Morse met with her oncologist. The doctor told her three things: her cancer required an aggressive regimen of a medication called Herceptin; before the drug's development, people with similar forms of cancer typically lived about three years; and pregnant women generally shouldn't take the medication. 

"Honestly, I wanted to hold on to some hope that maybe I could do both. But my husband was like, 'No way, you're more important. Your life is more important, this is what we need to do,'" Morse recalled.

"Everyone was telling me this is what you needed to do. I had to wrap my brain around it though. ... I mean, honestly, the lymph nodes under my arm were the size of a palm by that point. So it was definitely panic time. It was, you know, it was a very, very scary time for sure." 

There were complications with the pregnancy as well — it was a partial molar pregnancy, a condition that generally prevents an embryo from developing completely. In some cases, it can also cause cancer. 

Morse decided she needed an abortion. 

First, she tried to use a drug she received at Planned Parenthood. Doctors thought she had an ectopic pregnancy, or one where the egg is fertilized outside the uterus. Doctors decided to perform the abortion using a drug called methotrexate, which is also used to treat cancer.

More: Justice Department seeks emergency order to block Texas abortion ban enforcement

Initially, blood tests indicated it worked, but three weeks after receiving the medication, new tests showed Morse was still pregnant.

She ultimately had a medical procedure called a dilation and curettage, or a D&C. It's a surgery that involves scraping tissue from inside the uterus.

To this day, Morse says her recovery is a bit of a blur. Two of her children, who were 10 and 8 at the time, knew she had cancer. But she wouldn't tell them about the abortion until years later. She couldn't. 

She needed to focus on staying alive. 

"All I was focused on was getting chemo started. Because, technically, the lump under my arm was inoperable so I needed chemo first before surgery, which is not the normal path with breast cancer," Morse said. 

"I was just solely focused on being able to start chemo so I had a chance at life. So, honestly, I can't say as I remember that much about the pregnancy aspect at that point."

'All you can think about is how much you want to live'

When Morse met with her oncologist, she was about six weeks pregnant. 

That's a gestational juncture recently deemed critical by Texas lawmakers, who passed legislation earlier this year that outlaws any abortion after six weeks. The law prevents the state from enforcing the ban though, instead empowering private citizens to sue possible transgressors. 

In theory, that directly contradicts high court precedent established for nearly 50 years by the outcome of Roe v. Wade. But the heretofore untested enforcement structure in the Texas law prompted a narrow majority of U.S. Supreme Court justices to decline to prevent the measure from taking effect at the start of the month. 

That spurred renewed focus on abortion rights nationwide. In Michigan, abortion is legal because of Roe. But there's a 1931 law still on the books that makes it a felony for anyone to perform an abortion except when necessary to preserve the life of the pregnant person.

That law is superseded by Roe, but several cases before the Supreme Court now could result in a reversal of national abortion rights. If Roe is overturned, nothing stops Michigan's 1931 law from taking effect again. The law appears to take aim at abortion providers, not those receiving an abortion. But how different prosecutors would enforce the law remains unknown.   

'Blatantly unconstitutional law': Texas doctor defies new state law and performs abortion past six weeks of pregnancy

The possibility of broader court action is one reason why Morse wanted to share her story publicly and more broadly now. She's thought about her decision in 2011 and what she would have done if she lived in Texas and had to make the same choice today. 

"I would have found another state to go to because I would have had that luxury at the time. Which is why we know this is also so detrimental to so many people, because a lot of people wouldn't have had the resources that I did," Morse said. 

"But when you find out you have cancer at 38 and you're raising three kids, all you can think about is how much you want to live. And if that would have required me going to a neighboring state, and having my neighbor snitch on me to, you know, get $10,000 from the state, I would have done it." 

There are many different reasons women get an abortion.

Morse received hers in order to save her life. While anti-abortion rights advocates oppose all abortion, some understand the context of providing one as a medical necessity for the pregnant person.

Genevieve Marnon, legislative director for Right to Life of Michigan, noted the exception in Michigan law for an abortion performed to save a pregnant person's life and said her organization supports that exemption.

She said her organization generally views the pregnant person as a second victim. It values preserving life, and understands that if the pregnant person dies, a baby may die as well, she said.

She also pointed to the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists, a national group of doctors who oppose abortion rights. The organization issued a statement in 2009 about the concept of medically necessary abortions. 

"When extreme medical emergencies that threaten the life of the mother arise ... AAPLOG believes in 'treatment to save the mother’s life,' including premature delivery if that is indicated — obviously with the patient’s informed consent. This is NOT 'abortion to save the mother’s life,'" the statement reads. 

"We are treating two patients, the mother and the baby, and every reasonable attempt to save the baby’s life would also be a part of our medical intervention. We acknowledge that, in some such instances, the baby would be too premature to survive." 

In its own statement, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and Physicians said, "without question, abortion can be medically necessary.”

"The science of medicine is not subjective, and a strongly held personal belief should never outweigh scientific evidence, override standards of medical care, or drive policy that puts a person’s health and life at risk," the statement reads. 

"Pregnancy imposes significant physiological changes on a person’s body. These changes can exacerbate underlying or preexisting conditions, like renal or cardiac disease, and can severely compromise health or even cause death. … There are situations where pregnancy termination in the form of an abortion is the only medical intervention that can preserve a patient’s health or save their life." 

Morse knows Republican lawmakers routinely propose bills to restrict abortion access despite the Roe ruling, and understands Gov. Gretchen Whitmer would veto any that made it to her desk. She understands the law in Michigan and the language around preserving the life of the mother. 

The truly terrifying question, in her mind, comes if Roe is overturned and someone challenges the necessity of an abortion. 

"People might say, 'Well, there's an exception for if it threatens the mother's health. Well, who is deciding this though? Who gets to make that decision, whether the mother's life is in enough danger or not?' That's the part that scares me," Morse said.

More: More than 500 female athletes calling on Supreme Court to rebuff Mississippi abortion law

'No one's lives are guaranteed' 

After the abortion, Morse remained on the Herceptin for nearly a year. She had six months of chemotherapy. She had a full course of radiation. She had a doublemastectomy. 

Ten years later, she remains cancer-free. 

Even though it's gone, it remains a powerful motivator in her life. She credits her recovery with pushing her to run for state office in 2020. 

"Part of what cancer does is reminds us that no one's lives are guaranteed, no matter the age. And so, you know, if you're feeling passionate about something, to go for it," Morse said. 

In the same vein, it's why she's decided to speak out about her own abortion experience. She said after the Supreme Court declined to stop the Texas law from taking effect, she had a feeling that it's why she needs to be in office — to use her platform to connect with others who may be on the verge of making a potentially devastating decision. 

"I had to go through that so I could fight for other people. Not that that would have made my experience that much easier. But, you know, when you're going to Planned Parenthood for a medication abortion and someone is filming the parking lot from the apartment complex next door so you have to feel that shame that other people are inflicting on you when you're just trying to make the best decision for you and your family, it's just not right," Morse said. 

Morse briefly referenced her own abortion while recently tweeting her opposition to the Texas law. Shortly thereafter, her 18-year-old daughter shared it on Instagram and her 20-year-old son reached out. 

"He called me and said, 'Wow, mom. You're putting this out there.' And I said, 'You know, if something bad is gonna happen to you and you can use it to fight for something important for many other people, then that's what it's for, I guess.' I guess," Morse said, repeating the last phrase, seemingly convincing herself that it's true.

Follow Dave Boucher on Twitter: @Dave_Boucher1.