This is an archived article and the information in the article may be outdated. Please look at the time stamp on the story to see when it was last updated.

CLEVELAND (WJW) – The impact of the Supreme Court ruling to overturn Roe v. Wade continues to have an effect here in Northeast Ohio.

A local woman was forced to travel out of state for an abortion that she says saved her life.

“We were on such a high with the pregnancy. We were buying clothes, we had the name picked out, we were planning a baby shower, parties and stuff,” said Tara and Justin George of Brook Park.

However, their world came crashing down at Tara’s 20-week ultrasound appointment.

“Our doctor did her own scan to look at everything and said, ‘We need to have a serious conversation. We are noticing things with the baby that are extremely dangerous for him and for you,”‘ said Tara.

Tara’s OB-GYN said their baby would not likely survive once she had him, so they were left with two options.

“We could see if he could make it to a point to even have him at all, all while not having anything dangerous happen to me because I have a blood clotting disorder,” she said. “Or we could terminate early.”

A difficult decision made even more difficult by Ohio’s Heartbeat Bill, which bans abortions after six weeks of gestation.

Tara said the Cleveland hospital told them they couldn’t terminate the pregnancy because Tara was past six weeks.

“Knowing Tara’s health was on the line and the baby’s chance of survival was slim, I really thought in Ohio people said they would do everything to protect the mother. I honestly never thought they would say no to us so we had to find another option,” said Justin.

The couple reached out to doctors in Michigan, Pennsylvania, Illinois and Maryland before deciding on a hospital in Michigan.

“We got a call shortly after saying unfortunately they weren’t going to be able to help me. The next
morning, thankfully, they called back and said they worked it out. So they could take us as long as we could get there by a certain time and that is what ended up happening,” said Tara.

Tara is still recovering both mentally and physically, but her heart breaks for all the women who are going through the same situation as they did.

“With everything going on in Ohio, unfortunately there are a lot of women who are scared and nervous to try and have a family because God forbid something happens to them,” said Tara.

The Georges want to try again but say they are hesitant due to talk of republican leaders looking to further restrict access to abortion, like banning travel across state lines for the procedure.