Financial issues further restricted Hollis from being able to travel out of state for an abortion elsewhere. Ultimately, she carried on with the pregnancy, which almost ended her life.
“Because of everything that was going on, they didn’t know what was the right thing to do… So the only way to save me was for something bad to happen to me,”The placenta did eventually rupture Hollis’s uterine wall, resulting in her needing medical attention, at 25 weeks of pregnancy, for excessive bleeding. But even that wasn’t enough to do something — Hollis stayed in the hospital for four days before being discharged.
“I didn’t want the hysterectomy. But they said that was the only way that they could stop the bleeding to help me, so I didn’t have a choice,”Problems for the family lasted long after the pregnancy was over. The baby Hollis delivered required extensive medical care, remaining in an incubator for a month and staying in the hospital for two months after she was delivered. The baby has required multiple hospital visits since, with Hollis detailing one instance in which the child almost died.