(Trends Wide) — All Heather and Nick Maberry wanted was to hold their dead baby, but Kentucky’s strict abortion laws prevented them from doing so.
They were “angry” that the laws meant they could never kiss or hug their daughter, Willow Rose, or tell her goodbye, Heather said.
“We will never know what her face was like. We will never know what it was like to hold her,” the woman said. “We are crying to someone we have never seen.”
The family’s ordeal began in April, when Heather was nearly five months pregnant and discovered that her daughter was missing a major part of her brain, a condition called anencephaly. The doctors told them that the girl would be stillborn or die very soon.
Heather and Nick Maberry share their story in hopes that Kentucky legislators will review abortion laws. (Credit: Trends Wide)
The Maberrys wanted to terminate the pregnancy, but their state’s near-total ban on abortion has no exceptions for birth defects, even serious ones like anencephaly.
The Maberrys left the state to terminate the pregnancy, but their insurance, Kentucky Medicaid, did not pay. They wanted to induce labor so they could have Willow, but that would have cost them tens of thousands of dollars. Instead, they had to settle for surgery that was much less expensive, but one that didn’t leave the fetus intact.
“We are mourning the images,” says Heather. “A blanket hurts us.”
Still distraught after his daughter’s death, Nick sleeps in Willow’s blanket and has been unable to return to his job as a factory worker.
“I was gutted,” he said.
The Maberrys say they speak publicly about their experience in the hope that legislators in their state will listen and review abortion laws.
Heather Maberry and her daughters. (Credit: Courtesy of Heather Neace Maberry)
Heather wants to protect her three daughters – Madison, 13; Aubrie, 12, and Hadlei, 6 – when they grow up.
“I don’t want my daughters to go through what I went through. It’s not right,” she says.
Trends Wide contacted three sponsors of Kentucky’s abortion laws to ask why fatal fetal anomalies are not an exception to current laws. None of them responded.
Please keep our little girl in your prayers.
Nick and Heather met in high school in Stanton, Kentucky, and met again years later through mutual friends. They got married in March 2022 and settled in their hometown.
Nick, 34, had four children and Heather, 32, three. They wanted to have a child together and she got pregnant, but she miscarried in October.
On December 23rd they found out that Heather was pregnant again. They called it “our early Christmas present” and proudly displayed four positive pregnancy tests in a Facebook photo just days later.
“Please keep our little girl in your prayers as we wait for our first doctor’s appointment,” Heather wrote. “Everything seems to be going well so far. The girls and we are very excited.”
The Maberrys announced their pregnancy in a Facebook post. (Credit: Courtesy Heather Neace Maberry)
Suffering from hyperemesis gravidarum—severe nausea and vomiting during pregnancy—Heather was so ill that she had to stop working as a substitute teacher and was hospitalized for several days.
“I was in bed the whole time,” Heather says. “Maybe she had one good day a week and then the rest of the week was horrible.”
It became difficult to take care of their children.
But she later wrote that she “got to hear our little baby’s heartbeat” which was “the most precious gift she could have received.”
Still, the hyperemesis was overwhelming.
“This is hell,” he wrote on Facebook.
Then came the anencephaly diagnosis in April, when Heather was 20 weeks pregnant.
“Please keep Nick, me and our girls in your prayers. We just got the worst news about our little girl,” she wrote on Facebook, including a picture of the ultrasound. “This is our girl, Willow Rose. We love her very much.” She added three emojis: a heart, a rose, and a crying face.
Heather’s obstetrician referred them to Maternal-Fetal Medicine specialists at the University of Kentucky, 45 minutes away in Lexington. The following week, a report from there described him bluntly: “Anencephaly confirmed.”
“It was like a kick to the stomach,” says Heather.
The prognosis for a baby with anencephaly is dire. The National Institutes of Health state that “if the baby is not stillborn, it will usually die within a few hours or days after birth.”
A medical journal article on anencephaly says it is “incompatible with life, but not with love.”
That’s how the Maberrys felt: they loved their daughter and didn’t want her to suffer. They wanted to terminate the pregnancy for Willow’s sake, and for Heather’s. Her hyperemesis was not going away and she wanted to go back to work and take care of her three children. There was another health problem: Heather had high blood pressure, and continuing the pregnancy could raise it dangerously high. Though she was willing to take that risk for a live baby, Willow was not going to live.
“I don’t think carrying her was an option. Period,” Heather said.
“We’ll never know what he looked like”
Because Kentucky Medicaid didn’t cover the procedure, the Maberrys sought help from abortion support organizations and family and friends, but still couldn’t raise enough for an induction.
A Chicago clinic agreed to perform a surgery called dilation and evacuation free of charge, and abortion rights organizations paid for her travel expenses, Heather explained.
She said the procedure was “a nightmare” and “the worst pain ever,” much more painful than giving birth to her daughters.
The Maberrys claim that the clinic did not give them Willow’s remains, which they wanted to cremate. In his medical history it is stated that “the main parts of the fetus and placental tissue were identified and the sample was prepared for disposal.”
The clinic, Family Planning Associates Medical Group of Chicago, declined to comment.
With no remains, no memories of holding Willow, the family has a baby blanket and some clothes they had bought for her, a stuffed elephant with a recording inside of her heartbeat and footprints. taken in the clinic.
“I wanted to be induced so I could hold her, so I could see her, so I could have a memory,” Heather says. “I could have spent just a little bit of time with her.”
“The photos hurt us. The footprints hurt,” Heather said. “We’ll never know what she looked like. We’ll never know what it would be like to hold her.”
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(Trends Wide) — All Heather and Nick Maberry wanted was to hold their dead baby, but Kentucky’s strict abortion laws prevented them from doing so.
They were “angry” that the laws meant they could never kiss or hug their daughter, Willow Rose, or tell her goodbye, Heather said.
“We will never know what her face was like. We will never know what it was like to hold her,” the woman said. “We are crying to someone we have never seen.”
The family’s ordeal began in April, when Heather was nearly five months pregnant and discovered that her daughter was missing a major part of her brain, a condition called anencephaly. The doctors told them that the girl would be stillborn or die very soon.
Heather and Nick Maberry share their story in hopes that Kentucky legislators will review abortion laws. (Credit: Trends Wide)
The Maberrys wanted to terminate the pregnancy, but their state’s near-total ban on abortion has no exceptions for birth defects, even serious ones like anencephaly.
The Maberrys left the state to terminate the pregnancy, but their insurance, Kentucky Medicaid, did not pay. They wanted to induce labor so they could have Willow, but that would have cost them tens of thousands of dollars. Instead, they had to settle for surgery that was much less expensive, but one that didn’t leave the fetus intact.
“We are mourning the images,” says Heather. “A blanket hurts us.”
Still distraught after his daughter’s death, Nick sleeps in Willow’s blanket and has been unable to return to his job as a factory worker.
“I was gutted,” he said.
The Maberrys say they speak publicly about their experience in the hope that legislators in their state will listen and review abortion laws.
Heather Maberry and her daughters. (Credit: Courtesy of Heather Neace Maberry)
Heather wants to protect her three daughters – Madison, 13; Aubrie, 12, and Hadlei, 6 – when they grow up.
“I don’t want my daughters to go through what I went through. It’s not right,” she says.
Trends Wide contacted three sponsors of Kentucky’s abortion laws to ask why fatal fetal anomalies are not an exception to current laws. None of them responded.
Please keep our little girl in your prayers.
Nick and Heather met in high school in Stanton, Kentucky, and met again years later through mutual friends. They got married in March 2022 and settled in their hometown.
Nick, 34, had four children and Heather, 32, three. They wanted to have a child together and she got pregnant, but she miscarried in October.
On December 23rd they found out that Heather was pregnant again. They called it “our early Christmas present” and proudly displayed four positive pregnancy tests in a Facebook photo just days later.
“Please keep our little girl in your prayers as we wait for our first doctor’s appointment,” Heather wrote. “Everything seems to be going well so far. The girls and we are very excited.”
The Maberrys announced their pregnancy in a Facebook post. (Credit: Courtesy Heather Neace Maberry)
Suffering from hyperemesis gravidarum—severe nausea and vomiting during pregnancy—Heather was so ill that she had to stop working as a substitute teacher and was hospitalized for several days.
“I was in bed the whole time,” Heather says. “Maybe she had one good day a week and then the rest of the week was horrible.”
It became difficult to take care of their children.
But she later wrote that she “got to hear our little baby’s heartbeat” which was “the most precious gift she could have received.”
Still, the hyperemesis was overwhelming.
“This is hell,” he wrote on Facebook.
Then came the anencephaly diagnosis in April, when Heather was 20 weeks pregnant.
“Please keep Nick, me and our girls in your prayers. We just got the worst news about our little girl,” she wrote on Facebook, including a picture of the ultrasound. “This is our girl, Willow Rose. We love her very much.” She added three emojis: a heart, a rose, and a crying face.
Heather’s obstetrician referred them to Maternal-Fetal Medicine specialists at the University of Kentucky, 45 minutes away in Lexington. The following week, a report from there described him bluntly: “Anencephaly confirmed.”
“It was like a kick to the stomach,” says Heather.
The prognosis for a baby with anencephaly is dire. The National Institutes of Health state that “if the baby is not stillborn, it will usually die within a few hours or days after birth.”
A medical journal article on anencephaly says it is “incompatible with life, but not with love.”
That’s how the Maberrys felt: they loved their daughter and didn’t want her to suffer. They wanted to terminate the pregnancy for Willow’s sake, and for Heather’s. Her hyperemesis was not going away and she wanted to go back to work and take care of her three children. There was another health problem: Heather had high blood pressure, and continuing the pregnancy could raise it dangerously high. Though she was willing to take that risk for a live baby, Willow was not going to live.
“I don’t think carrying her was an option. Period,” Heather said.
“We’ll never know what he looked like”
Because Kentucky Medicaid didn’t cover the procedure, the Maberrys sought help from abortion support organizations and family and friends, but still couldn’t raise enough for an induction.
A Chicago clinic agreed to perform a surgery called dilation and evacuation free of charge, and abortion rights organizations paid for her travel expenses, Heather explained.
She said the procedure was “a nightmare” and “the worst pain ever,” much more painful than giving birth to her daughters.
The Maberrys claim that the clinic did not give them Willow’s remains, which they wanted to cremate. In his medical history it is stated that “the main parts of the fetus and placental tissue were identified and the sample was prepared for disposal.”
The clinic, Family Planning Associates Medical Group of Chicago, declined to comment.
With no remains, no memories of holding Willow, the family has a baby blanket and some clothes they had bought for her, a stuffed elephant with a recording inside of her heartbeat and footprints. taken in the clinic.
“I wanted to be induced so I could hold her, so I could see her, so I could have a memory,” Heather says. “I could have spent just a little bit of time with her.”
“The photos hurt us. The footprints hurt,” Heather said. “We’ll never know what she looked like. We’ll never know what it would be like to hold her.”
