Ashley Lefebvre hugs her unborn daughter’s urn each night. Sarah Halsey treasures the tiny hat worn by her baby who lived just 38 minutes. Abi Frazier moved away from her home with a furnished nursery.

All ended wanted pregnancies because of grave fetal medical problems.

It’s a side of abortion seldom discussed in national debates — the termination of pregnancies because of fetal anomalies or other often-fatal medical problems.

These terminations often happen in the second trimester, when women have already picked out names, bought baby clothes and felt kicking in their wombs. They’re far different from the most common abortions, performed earlier in pregnancies.

Women say these terminations for medical reasons don’t feel like a choice — instead they are forced upon them by the condition of the fetus they carry.

And the constant drumbeat of new abortion bans, rulings and news since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade has reopened raw wounds. Such abortions were already shrouded in secrecy and guilt, the women say. They fear the path will be even tougher for those who follow.

There are no recent statistics on the frequency of terminations for fetal anomalies — including genetic or chromosomal abnormalities — in the U.S., but experts say it’s a small percentage of total procedures.

They typically occur later than the 93% of abortions performed at or before 13 weeks of pregnancy.

In the wake of the high court’s decision, a growing number of women in this smaller group are coming together to support each other and share their voices.

They say more people will face the same hurdles they did — traveling long distances, rushing agonizing decisions, navigating a maze of changing abortion restrictions — with an even narrower window for care.

The vast majority of states ban abortion at some point in pregnancy, and roughly a dozen have exceptions for fetal anomalies, most just for fatal medical problems.

Even in states with exceptions, providers may be reluctant to perform terminations for medical reasons, and cases can fall into gray areas.

Gray seeps across the spectrum of abortion, say the women who’ve experienced these procedures.

Here are some of their stories:

–

Abi Frazier

–

When Abi Frazier was pregnant last year, she and her husband created a nursery — Cadi’s room, with a hand-me-down crib, toys and clothes. But Cadi never came home.

At Frazier’s first ultrasound appointment, nothing seemed amiss. She saw movement and heard a heartbeat. So the couple shared their pregnancy news with family.

“Surprise! We’re having a baby!” they told them, taking off sweaters to reveal shirts that said “mama to be” and “rad dad.”

A screening test for chromosomal abnormalities came back normal and indicated they’d have a girl.

But then, at just over 19 weeks, a doctor told them about a severe problem involving the neural tube from which the brain and spinal cord form.

Frazier will never forget his words: “I’m so sorry. She has a fatal defect.”

Her options were to terminate the pregnancy, or carry the baby and expect a stillbirth.

“I was weighing the choice, which really didn’t feel like a choice, because what I wanted was my baby,” said Frazier, now 34.

The decision to terminate meant contending with time limits and regulations.

The doctor at a nearby Oklahoma clinic would not provide the procedure past 17 weeks. Frazier traveled three hours to a Kansas clinic with a cutoff of 22 weeks.

Under state law, the couple had to wait 24 hours for the procedure after their first clinic visit.

They got a hotel, and Frazier cried nonstop. At the clinic, staff were compassionate, she said.

The people gathered outside were not. Her husband couldn’t come inside, so he had to listen to protesters on a bullhorn. They parked a van with graphic images in front of the exit.

The next year, when the Supreme Court’s abortion ruling came down, the couple had moved to a new home.

There, rainbows — symbolizing babies born after loss — cover a crib sheet, lamp, picture frames and walls in a new nursery. Their daughter, Ava, was born in March.

In the couple’s bedroom is a tiny urn filled with Cadi’s ashes, next to an ultrasound picture. “She’s always gonna be part of our family,” Frazier said.

She said abortion opponents don’t understand the medical nuances behind decisions like hers.

“The choice that I made was out of compassion for my daughter,” she said.

Oklahoma now prohibits abortion completely, with no exception for fetal anomalies.

–

Sarah Halsey

–

Sarah Halsey’s fifth baby lived for only 38 minutes, dying in her hands.

She ended her pregnancy last year after scans showed the fetus had a brain abnormality and other signs of the genetic disorder trisomy 13. She asked the doctor if, in her baby’s case, it was “compatible with life.”

He paused, then replied: “I’m so sorry.”

Halsey chose an induction abortion, which uses medications to start labor in the second or third trimesters.

The intent is to end the pregnancy, and it is considered an abortion. But infrequently it can result in a brief, unintended live birth.

It’s less familiar than the surgical dilation and evacuation procedure more commonly used in the second trimester. But some facing fetal anomalies want to see and hold their babies.

That was true for Halsey — a labor and delivery nurse in Michigan. Though she knew she wouldn’t go home with a baby, she said, “it was really important that I gave birth to her.”

When labor ended, she held the 10-inch, 10-ounce infant, named Willow Rebecca after her grandmother and mother.

“We kissed her,” Halsey said. “We told her how much we loved her.”

Three weeks later, Halsey, 34, returned to work. It was rough; her first patient had the same due date she would have had. But she eventually felt that her loss allowed her to offer more compassionate care.

Today, Halsey finds support in two online groups for parents who terminated pregnancies for similar reasons. She and her family recently marked Willow Rebecca’s birthday by planting a willow tree in the backyard.

“We loved her so, so much that we did not want her to fight and suffer,” Halsey said. “Ending my pregnancy felt like the most motherly thing I have ever done.”