Deborah Dorbert knew it would be excruciating, both emotionally and physically, to carry to term and deliver a baby doctors told her would only live a few minutes, at most.
And it was, she said.
"It was the most excruciating pain to go through," Dorbert, 35, told "Good Morning America" of giving birth to her son Milo Evan Dorbert on March 3, 2023, after not being able to access abortion care in her home state of Florida. "Delivering him just to watch him die was just all extra added trauma."
What Dorbert said she never could have imagined was the mental health crisis that would unfold for her over the next year, including, she said, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder.
"[It was] almost as if you were thrown out in the middle of the desert and now you had to learn to survive," Dorbert said of leaving the hospital without a newborn. "They didn't give any kind of support, no, 'Here are papers,' or, 'Here are therapists.'"
And it was, she said.
"It was the most excruciating pain to go through," Dorbert, 35, told "Good Morning America" of giving birth to her son Milo Evan Dorbert on March 3, 2023, after not being able to access abortion care in her home state of Florida. "Delivering him just to watch him die was just all extra added trauma."
What Dorbert said she never could have imagined was the mental health crisis that would unfold for her over the next year, including, she said, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder.
"[It was] almost as if you were thrown out in the middle of the desert and now you had to learn to survive," Dorbert said of leaving the hospital without a newborn. "They didn't give any kind of support, no, 'Here are papers,' or, 'Here are therapists.'"