Nebraska resident Haile McAnally believes it was “divine intervention” that saved her from bleeding to death in her own bathroom shortly after high school.
She told Fox News Digital that abortion medication, in the form of pills, was to blame for her having “hemorrhaged in the bath,” and that she is now focused on sparing other women the same possible fate.
“Planned Parenthood told us that this is what is women empowerment. This is what women do when they can’t handle it. They take this route, and they don’t acknowledge the pain it causes,” McAnally said.
“The same pills I took under direction of medical professionals, they can be shipped anywhere at any time,” she continued. “I can’t imagine being a young woman in college and maybe finding herself in this position, ordering these pills online, not knowing what kind of maybe pre-medical condition she has, and she finds herself in the same position.”
McAnally said the experience is also part of what motivated her to switch parties from a pro-choice “registered Democrat” to a pro-life Republican.
“I had always been on the left because I thought they were the side that was more open to having these conversations, the free-thinkers,” she recalled.
McAnally said her questions about how and why her ordeal happened were met with, “You can’t talk about it. You can’t talk about it because it’s not part of our agenda. It’s not a part of our platform to talk about any complications this may have.”
“I noticed the more I asked questions, the people on the right were more willing to talk about it, which, in the pro-life space, I thought I was gonna be condemned. I thought it was gonna like, ‘You’re gonna go to hell. This is horrible. You’re a murderer.’ These things that you always hear from the left that the right is gonna call you,” she said.
And I was like, ‘I’m gonna talk about it and see what happens.’ And the right was so forgiving and so loving and really embraced my story and really said, ‘This is horrible, I’m glad you seek forgiveness and counsel for this.'”
McAnally told Fox News Digital that it had always been her dream to become a mother. When she got pregnant by her boyfriend, however, she said he had a very different response.
“He asked me what I was gonna do about it and hung up the phone, and I haven’t talked to him since,” she said.
She recalled being fearful of going through the experience alone and turning to pro-choice groups for guidance.
“I remember seeing the pink signs everywhere and the marketing that says … the sisterhood will take care of you,” she said. “And as someone in that position where you’re scared, and you are looking for answers somewhere, and you don’t wanna be alone and being so young at the time, that was a very enticing message.”
McAnally described the clinic as being “cold,” “dark,” and smelling of rubbing alcohol.
“They took my money, and they sent me back to this room where … this doctor was going to walk me through everything that was going to happen that day. That’s the consent kind of happened, in that room, and he didn’t know me from Adam. He really didn’t ask about my background and anything medical that’s ever happened,” she recalled.
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But as an “emotional and scared” young woman, McAnally said she signed the consent forms and was given one abortion pill and told to take a second one at home. She said medical staff warned her it would feel like “a more intense period,” recommending a heating pad and tea for comfort.
“I followed that protocol, went home, took the second pill, and I found myself on the toilet in the bathroom where bleeding occurred, which was exactly what they said. But after about two hours, I was still bleeding out. And I started feeling really weak. I knew that what was happening was not right, but I couldn’t really comprehend what was going on,” McAnally said.
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She said she dragged herself into the bathtub before realizing her condition had quickly become serious — but that her phone was out of reach.
“I just laid there and thought that was the moment that everything was over, and, partially, I felt like it was punishment for me making that decision,” she said. “But at the end of the day, I remember waking up, and I was in the hospital and my friend had come home, and she had realized that I was laying in the bathtub unconscious at the time, and she called 911, and I had a blood transfusion done.”
McAnally said she now feels like it’s her duty to warn other women of the potential dangers of unfettered access to mifepristone.
That’s why she and several other women allied with anti-abortion group Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America are heading to Capitol Hill on Thursday to meet with lawmakers and staffers. Their plea: curb access to mail-order abortion pills.
“Women who’ve suffered the devastating effects of abortion drugs who are clear-eyed about the lies of the Big Abortion industry are the most effective advocates,” said SBA Pro-Life America President Marjorie Dannenfelser. “Their lives are forever changed, but they’re standing strong and having a powerful impact on Capitol Hill and beyond.”
A study in JAMA Internal Medicine observed that 0.6% of women who get mail-order abortion pills experience medical emergencies that leave them hospitalized. A conflicting study by the Ethics and Public Policy Center said one in 10 women have a “serious adverse event.”
It’s a testament to the volatile, often emotional politics that have consumed the abortion debate in the wake of the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade.
Fox News Digital reached out to Planned Parenthood for comment.
