The life of a pregnant American woman in Malta is in danger because a much-needed abortion is not allowed | Abroad

Andrea Prudente, 38, and her partner, Jay, 45, were told that doctors should only intervene if Andrea went into labor or if the fetus’s heart had stopped. “But they didn’t do anything else,” her husband, Jay Wilder, told the BBC. Now they find themselves in a terrible situation, hoping their daughter’s heart will stop beating before Andrea catches a fatal infection.

“The placenta bleeding and separation from the uterus, with the membrane completely torn and the baby’s umbilical cord stuck into Andrea’s cervix, puts her at risk of infection, all of which could have been prevented,” Wilder said. “A baby can’t live, there’s nothing that can be done to change that. We wanted her, we still want her, we love her, we wish she would survive, but she won’t. Not only are we in a situation where we lose a daughter we wanted, but the hospital also exposes Andrea at risk for a longer period,” he adds.

Doctors advised Prudente to leave the hospital and wait in the hotel where you are staying until the fetus’s heartbeat stops, or until you contract an infection, after which an intervention can be made. “I feel like I’m going through a severe psychological trauma,” the woman says.

The couple has been in the hospital for a week now, waiting for something to happen. After all, Andrea’s condition can change quickly at any time, but after waiting six days for one of two terrible scenarios, Jay and his wife were exhausted, he says. “This procedure could have been done in a couple of hours, without putting Andrea at risk, and giving us a chance to grieve. Instead, it’s something so prolonged, you end up with very bleak thoughts and thinking, ‘How could this end?”

The woman said the couple’s only hope was an emergency medical evacuation to the UK at the expense of travel insurance, but the hospital initially refused to share Prudente’s medical record with the insurance company. And only after calling a lawyer, did the hospital accept a request to transfer her medical information to her insurance company. “I just want to get out of here alive,” Prudente said. “Even in my wildest dreams, I never thought I’d end up in a nightmare like this.” By purchasing her story, she hopes to save other women from the same fate. “I don’t want this to happen to more people,” she says.

In 2017, another tourist was evacuated from Malta to France to undergo an emergency abortion. However, this is not an option for the Maltese woman. Malta is the only European country where there is a complete ban on abortion, even if the fetus no longer has a chance to survive. Thus, women in Malta who wish to have an abortion only have the choice between purchasing illegal abortion medicine online or having an abortion abroad.