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Image of a protest sign with the words "my body my choice"

Photo by Reed Naliboff on Unsplash

In 2008, around eight weeks into her second pregnancy, Robin Wilson-Beattie began experiencing hyperemesis gravidarum, which caused her to have severe episodes of vomiting. She had gone through this condition as well as other complications, such as preeclampsia, during her first pregnancy four years prior and knew that she would likely become bedridden, but this time she didn't have the support to help her through it.

With a 4-year-old son at home, she also didn't know if she'd be able to raise another child, so she decided to get an abortion. However, when she arrived at the clinic to get an abortion, she was denied care because of her disability, which had resulted from a spinal cord injury.

"They were not comfortable giving me an abortion because I had a disability. [My] paralysis scared them. I don't know why. The disability just freaked them out. They said I would have to go to a doctor and have it done in a hospital, so I had to go through health insurance," said Wilson-Beattie, a...