"An Abortion Saved My Life After I Got Leukemia"

Mom Abby Blum tells why she was forced her to end her much wanted pregnancy. She warns - an unexpected tragic event can happen to any woman - even if they think they'll never need an abortion.

Abby and her husband Bryan

My husband Bryan and I were super excited when I found out that I was pregnant with our third child.

I had taken a standard drugstore pregnancy test because we had been trying for a baby and I was already starting to feel nauseous. Sure enough, it turned positive.

My two little girls were three and five at the time and I went to see my OBGYN for routine blood work and an ultrasound when I was eight and a half weeks pregnant.

She told me that my baby looked great and prescribed me some anti nausea medication and I left with an ultrasound picture and plans for another checkup in a couple of weeks.

But later that evening, I was surprised when I got a frantic call from her. She told me that my white blood cells were extremely high.

I replied that I didn’t know what that meant and she said: “I think you have leukemia. I want you to come in to see our oncology department tomorrow morning for more blood tests and bring your husband.”

I was in complete shock. I felt like, how can you diagnose me and especially, so quickly.

I was supposed to meet a friend that evening for dinner and I called her to tell her the news and as I explained, I just broke down.

That night, I barely slept and actively tried to avoid Google.

I decided to go for the extra blood tests the next morning by myself because I’m a I remember thinking, ‘why do I need to have my husband sit here with me while I do blood tests.

An oncologist that my OBGYN had referred me to had already set me up to have a bone marrow biopsy later that afternoon, so Bryan did come with me for that test.

But before doing the procedure the oncologist explained that he believed that I had CML - chronic myeloid leukemia - and that there was a great drug available to treat it called Gleevec.

The drug had been approved for the treatment of CML almost 25 years ago and that patients who took it would have the same life expectancy as someone who never had the cancer.

He said that the majority of patients responded beautifully and that if I took Gleevec I would live a normal life with minimal side effects. I would just take a pill every day for the rest of my life.

However, the problem was that I was pregnant. It would not be safe at this early stage in my pregnancy for me to take this medication. Potentially, I could take the drug after 20 weeks of pregnancy but since I was only at 8 and a half weeks now. I would need to see a maternal - fetal medicine doctor who specialized in high risk pregnancies, to discuss my situation.

I very much wanted this pregnancy and while the oncologist had explained that about 50% of his patients are able to go into deep remission and stay there, it would take three to five years of treatment to get to that point.

I was 36 at the time and I realized that I would be in my early 40s by then if I wanted to try and get pregnant again and who knows how healthy my eggs would be at that point so I knew I wanted to try to somehow maintain my pregnancy.

The bone marrow biopsy confirmed that I did in fact have CML so I met with a maternal fetal medicine doctor at New York Cornell Hospital in NYC a few days later. I also began treatment with an oncologist there so that my doctors could co-ordinate my care.

I felt lucky to live in New York state and not far from NYC so at least I didn’t have to worry about any abortion restrictions complicating my treatment.

The maternal fetal specialist told me that there was an alternative form of treatment called immunotherapy that would be safer for my fetus which we could try in order to keep the CML in check until I reached 20 weeks of pregnancy.

She was supportive of me doing everything I could to keep my pregnancy and reassured me that the leukemia itself would not hurt my baby. My husband and I decided that I would use the immunotherapy treatment which involved giving myself injections weekly and also having blood tests every other day.

I spent the next month in bed. I was super nauseous, tired and losing weight.

I was having headaches every day and my white blood count was continuing to climb.

I arranged to see another leukemia specialist at Memorial Sloane Kettering Hospital in NYC for a second opinion but while I was there she insisted that I needed to be hospitalized.

She aid that the doctors needed to monitor me and needed to do a CT scan. They needed to make sure that I didn’t have a brain bleed. She warned me that I could have a stroke. She said - ‘it’s not safe for you with your high white cell count to be walking around.’

She called the oncologist that I had already been seeing at New York Cornell Hospital and then sent me over there to get admitted immediately.

My husband and I were stunned. We had expected to be away from home for a two hour appointment and suddenly we had to worry about who would take care of our daughters. How long would I have to stay in the hospital?

Luckily, my sister and brother-in-law lived in the same Westchester town as we did and they immediately went over to be with our girls. Then my sister-in-law stayed overnight, while my parents, who live two hours away said they would take over the next morning.

Having family was everything at that time.

YOU WILL DIE IF YOU DON’T GET AN ABORTION

One day during the 10 day hospital stay, my oncologist told me that it was no longer safe for me to continue my pregnancy, which was devastating.

My older sister and I had a long talk about the situation I was in. What would happen to my girls if something happened to me while I was trying to save my unborn child. If I wasn’t there for my kids, how would they be OK?

It felt like an impossible choice but I decided to go ahead and have the abortion to end my pregnancy so I could start the treatment I needed to save my life.

I had made it to just shy of 12 weeks.

For me, the abortion was a medical necessity. And in hindsight I realize that in the post Roe V Wade era, I was lucky to be in a state where I had access to an abortion and to all the healthcare that I needed.

If I had lived in a state like Texas which bans abortion from conception, my story would have had a very different ending. I didn’t choose to get cancer and to have to make the decision to end my pregnancy but that’s what can sometimes happen in life.

I have always felt very strongly that other women should be able to make the choice to have an abortion if they needed to or wanted to.

A lot of women and men may not think abortion bans will ever affect them. They may think ‘I’m married and we want kids, so we’re good and we’re safe, if we accidentally get pregnant, that’s OK. ‘

But you never know when an unexpected tragic event can happen in your life and you will have to do what is necessary to protect yourself, your kids and your husband. It’s wild that this is something that’s up for debate. The fact is that you may have to make a decision that you never thought you’d be faced with, like I did.

I don’t believe that the position of people that oppose abortion is really ‘pro life’ . We have to reframe how the Republicans have shaped the issue. It wouldn’t be ‘pro life’ if I had died and most likely my baby would have died along with me.

What anti abortionists are is, ‘pro birth.’

But I thought about it, why does my life not matter. My life as a mother, a wife and a daughter. Does that not mean anything?

I could have possibly waited even longer before I had to make the decision to go ahead with the abortion but I made the choice I did to make sure that nothing happened to me.

It’s not an easy choice so to portray a woman who has had an abortion as being a ‘murderer’ is so wrong. It’s terrible to put more guilt on a woman and make her have to prove that she is sick enough to need an an abortion.

I’m never going to lose the grief and the loss I feel about the child that I wanted so much. But my two little girls were three and five at the time. That’s the only way that I could finally come to a decision . If something had happened to me what would happen to my girls without a mother.

How could I not prioritize my girls who I love more than anything in the world and my husband who would have to raise them alone. My fetus was just 12 weeks old and we didn’t even know for sure if it would be healthy if I survived long enough to give birth because it was growing in a body that was so sick.

Once I decided to go ahead with the termination and had a D&C to end my pregnancy I started on the chemotherapy pills and was taking 13 pills a day to lower the number of white blood cells and platelets that I had in my blood.

I stayed in the hospital for a few more days until I was stable enough to not be at risk of a stroke or any other complication.

The D&C was a medical necessity to save my life. My twin sister was living in Texas and I knew that if I had been living there or in another abortion ban state my story could have had a very different ending so I felt passionate about having the opportunity to share my story.

My Note as an editor: I spoke to two different Texas OBGYNs who confirmed that if Abby, not her twin sister, was the one who had lived in Texas when she was pregnant and became ill with leukemia, she may have found it very difficult to get the abortion that she needed in the state before being at risk of ‘imminently dying’, which was the law.’s standard.

Dr. Tony Ogburn: “Under what has been the law most doctors in Texas would have been hesitant to terminate her pregnancy. The law says that a woman’s life has to be in imminent danger . But with cancer, what is ‘imminent’? The next day? The next week? It’s unclear.’

Dr. Todd Ivey: “When the legislature passed these abortion bans, none of the members were thinking about women with brain tumors or breast cancer or other cancers. I don’t know if we would have been able to find a doctor to terminate her pregnancy in Texas. It would have been a struggle.”

My parents have always been activists for women’s rights and civil rights in general. So that’s something that I’ve always cared about . And having two sisters and now two daughters, it’s impossible not to want to give your children a country where they have just as many rights as you did.

Because of this and my experience with CML I felt fortunate about a month or two after I left the hospital to be connected with the Harris campaign through a friend.

People in her campaign explained how important reproductive rights were to her and to this election. Six months after my diagnosis I agreed to begin speaking at Harris campaign rallies.

My first rally was with the Second Gentleman, Doug Emhoff, in New Hampshire. I’m not a public speaker and my heart was racing. I was terrified. But I brought along my twin sister and it was so nice to have her along for support. The Harris staff were also so encouraging, that they made me feel brave.

The 2nd Gentleman was kind, caring, sincere and such a proud husband.

I wanted voters to understand that abortion is healthcare. It is a fundamental right and it affects everyone - not just women. It affects a whole family. It saved my family.

My second appearance was in Minnesota at a Harris campaign event with Governor Tim Walz’s wife, Gwen, Senator Amy Klobuchar and Senator Tina Smith.

They were all so inspiring, passionate and dedicated to supporting women’s reproductive healthcare rights. They welcomed me and made me feel as if I was an important part of the Harris campaign. Gwen especially was so easy to talk to and genuinely such a sincere, wonderful person.

I was super appreciative of being there and to also speak in support of reproductive choice.

KAMALA HARRIS WAS SO KIND TO MY 5 YEAR-OLD DAUGHTER

Then I was invited to travel to Kamala Harris’s Houston rally which was focused on protecting women’s reproductive healthcare rights. Also on getting back those rights in states like Texas, which has a very extreme abortion ban beginning from conception. Beyonce, Kelly Rowland , Willie Nelson and Beyonce’s mom, Tina Knowles were all there and spoke to the crowd.

Abby before she became ill with leukemia.

I brought along my older daughter, who was 5 at the time. Being able to have my daughter there was so special and important because so much of why I have wanted to speak up is for my daughter and other children.

I wanted my daughter to feel the pride and power of being a woman and for her to be able to do whatever she want to in her life and not be held back by her gender. I wanted her to know that our rights as females to healthcare matter.

Our voices matter.

I also wanted her to meet the woman who had been the first female vice-president and who could have been our first female president.

My daughter was soo excited to go with me. Kamala met with all of the 13 women who were abortion ‘story tellers’ ie women who were willing to publicly share why we had decided to have abortions.

She was so kind and appreciative of me and every story teller who was there. She validated our experiences of having had terminations and she reiterated the importance of the work of we had been doing, speaking out. She honored our strength and bravery.

She was also so sweet with my daughter and complimented her on her ‘light up’ shoes.

It was devastating when Donald Trump defeated her. It felt so personal because my life depended on being able to access an abortion. I just can’t understand how people can vote for someone who doesn’t believe in abortion healthcare and is actively trying to take ‘choice’ away from American women. It’s very upsetting and every day with everything Trump’s doing since he was electe, just gets worse and worse.

I am still extremely passionate about speaking up for women’s reproductive healthcare rights.

A lot of men and women in this country still refuse to acknowledge that leaving the decision making about abortion up to the states is so detrimental to women.

The idea that women can just leave a state with an abortion ban is so ‘privileged.’

It can be unaffordable for women to leave their state. Or they could be too sick, like I was to do it.

The result of the bans is that women are dying. They are inhumane.

I will never understand people who oppose abortion, imposing these bans on everyone else. If you don’t believe in them, don’t get an abortion. No one’s forcing you and why are you coming after IVF.

It would make some sense if anti abortion Republicans were actually supporting mothers post childbirth and providing subsidized child care and taking care of the needs of children in general, but they aren’t supporting any of it.

Honestly, I think they just want to control women because it makes them feel more powerful. There is absolutely no reason why there should be abortion bans other than wanting to have power and control over women.

I’ve always feared that Donald Trump would try to ban abortion all across the country, including here in New York and in my own county of Westchester. Project 2025 includes specific plans for how to end abortion nationwide.

My twin sister has been living in Austin, Texas but she has decided after what happened to me that she will move to Colorado in a couple of months.

She realizes that God forbid, what if something happened to her there. She wouldn’t be able to get a life saving abortion. She also doesn’t want to be living in a state that doesn’t believe that women should have the same rights as others.

ANTI ABORTION LAWMAKERS WANT TO CONTROL WOMEN

Today, I have almost reached full remission of my CML, which is the normal timeline for patients taking the drug, Gleevec. I feel like myself again and I look forward to continuing to be both a mom and a reproductive rights activist.

I lobbied New York legislators in our state capital of Albany a few weeks ago to support legislation that protects access to abortion here and also to approve funds to reimburse women’s health care clinics for the Medicaid funds that Donald Trump and the Republican - led Congress are cutting off.

I am attending Planned Parenthood fundraisers and will continue to speak to groups about the need to support American women having the right to make their own reproductive healthcare decisions.

Women across the country need to be able to make their own family planning choices. We can’t stop fighting until we see change in the states that have taken away that choice from their citizens. I want to continue to tell women that your life and your voice matter.

We deserve better!