I never expected I'd need an abortion. Michigan's outdated laws made me pay for it myself.

My husband and I were expecting what we hoped would be our second child in 2017 when a routine ultrasound at 20 weeks revealed potential problems – problems that quickly opened my eyes to a host of Michigan anti-abortion laws that serve no medical purpose but succeed in making access to a common medical procedure needlessly difficult, dangerous and costly. 

After consulting with specialists over the course of a couple weeks, further testing showed major heart defects and other issues so severe there was little chance I’d be able to carry my pregnancy to term, and no possibility my baby would survive if I did manage to give birth.  

The news was shocking, and heartbreaking. I needed to have an abortion. 

The other option would be to simply wait for either a stillbirth, or the birth of a child destined to die quickly. I was already experiencing depression that made it difficult to even get out of bed in the morning, let alone take care of myself or my 2-year-old daughter. I was not emotionally capable of continuing a doomed pregnancy.  

I'm an OB-GYN: Abortion bans force doctors like me to watch women suffer. I won't be silent.

Abortion was the compassionate choice – for myself, my family and the child we had hoped to have. But the clock was ticking quickly. We were forced to schedule an appointment for Christmas Day at the Von Voigtlander Women's Hospital in Ann Arbor, one of only two places in the entire state that would take me as a patient.  

After arranging overnight child care for our daughter, we made the 160-mile drive through a terrible blizzard to Ann Arbor from our home in western Michigan. We missed opening presents with our 2-year-old on Christmas Day and seeing the joy on her face. That’s how desperate our situation was. The need to stay in a hotel overnight during the two-day procedure only added to our mounting costs. 

Even though our medical diagnosis was final, we still had to wait for the state-mandated 24-hour waiting period to pass. I also had to review biased information discouraging me from getting an abortion and the state required renderings of a fetus – none of which was medically necessary, but only added to the hardship and stress of something that was already incredibly hard. 

Thankfully, the procedure went smoothly, and the care I received from the compassionate medical team was top notch. But our problems were not over.

While pregnancy-related care is covered by private insurance and Medicaid, abortion is not. And because I did not purchase a special abortion coverage rider from my private insurance (like many people, I did not foresee that I would ever need an abortion), we were stuck with a hospital bill that topped $26,000. Money we had to pay ourselves. Money we didn’t have. 

Abortion is legal in Michigan. Now we must make it accessible.

As small business owners, my husband and I aren’t rich. Even with some financial aid from the hospital, the bill was overwhelming. It took years of belt-tightening to get it paid off. 

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Why should people who need to end a pregnancy also have to endure the needless trauma caused by outdated state laws, including those that bar insurance coverage of abortions? 

A lack of compassion and empathy on the part of anti-abortion lawmakers and activists is the only reason I can see. Those opposing abortion constantly attempt to portray people like me as heartless villains instead of what we are: people struggling through unimaginably difficult circumstances. 

After my abortion, participation in a support group connected me with others who were also forced to struggle through the gauntlet of hurtful mandates, put in place over the past 20 years, that make obtaining an abortion in Michigan needlessly onerous and traumatic. 

This is why our legislators must repeal laws that create barriers to abortion access. Doing so will remove harmful mandates from the books, like the 24-hour waiting period, ease unnecessary requirements that drive up the costs for abortion providers and patients like me, and open the door for insurance and Medicaid coverage of a common, safe procedure that 1 out of 4 women will turn to in their lives. 

When voters across Michigan overwhelmingly expressed support for legal abortion by voting for Proposal 3 last year, they sent a clear message to the state’s elected leaders: Abortion access must be protected.  

Now those leaders must listen to what their constituents have said, and remove all the harmful obstacles to abortion that have been erected in Michigan over the past 20 years.

Making sure abortion remains legal was a huge victory. But the work will not be complete until all of the unconstitutional roadblocks have been removed, and abortion care is both accessible and affordable for every Michigander. 

Amanda Mazur is a Michigan resident. This column first published in the Detroit Free Press.