Texas Woman Is Physically Ill in Emotional Courtroom Testimony About Being Denied Abortion for Unviable Pregnancy

Women with unviable pregnancies who were forced to carry their babies to term are testifying in a lawsuit against the state of Texas

Women in Texas who are challenging the state’s abortion ban recounted their harrowing personal stories Wednesday, leaving members of both sides of the case in tears.

The Center for Reproductive Rights is suing Texas on behalf of two doctors and 13 women whose pregnancies were either incompatible with life, or who suffered life-threatening complications. They’re asking the state to temporarily suspend the abortion ban for people with pregnancy complications, according to a report in NPR, as the current medical exemptions to the law are unclear.

Texas currently has a ban on abortion that restricts all procedures after 6 weeks of pregnancy — long after most women even know they’re pregnant.

In an Austin courtroom on Wednesday, one plaintiff, Samantha Casiano, became physically ill on the stand as she recounted her few hours with newborn daughter Halo, who was born with anencephaly in March.

Anencephaly is a “fatal condition” where portions of the brain, scalp and skull do not develop in utero, according to the Cleveland Clinic,

"She was gasping for air," Casiano said, according to NPR. "I just kept telling myself and my baby that I'm so sorry that this has happened to you. I felt so bad. She had no mercy. There was no mercy there for her."

Related: One Year After 'Roe v. Wade' Was Overturned — Here’s Where Abortion Laws Stand in the U.S.

The courtroom heard testimony from another woman, Amanda Zurawski, who was told she had an incompetent cervix, making a miscarriage inevitable. But she was forced to wait until she was sick enough for doctors to intervene.

"It could be days, it could be weeks. And knowing that we just had to live with that, it was incapacitating," Zurawski told PEOPLE. "I was unable to function. I didn't work, I didn't eat, I didn't sleep. I was left wanting to either get so sick that I almost died or, praying for my baby's heart to stop beating — this baby that I had wanted and worked to have for 18 months.”

Zurawski was denied treatment until she developed sepsis — a potentially fatal condition, according to the Mayo Clinic, that can damage internal organs — which sent her to the ICU.

She testified that due to damage to her fallopian tubes and uterus, Zurawski will need to undergo IVF to get pregnant again, according to CBS News.

Still another plaintiff, Ashley Brandt, was pregnant with twins when she discovered she could lose both babies due to a fatal condition one of the twins developed.

She left the state for the procedure, but upon returning to Texas, she suffered some complications and feared seeking medical care.

Related: Doctor Who Gave 10-Year-Old Rape Victim an Abortion Fined, Reprimanded by Medical Board

"I don't feel safe to have children in Texas anymore," Brandt testified according to CBS News. "I knew it was very clear my health didn't matter, but my daughter's health didn't really matter [either]."

The office of Texas State Attorney General Ken Paxton — who is currently facing an impeachment trial over allegations of abusing his office —  is asking for the case, which continues Thursday, to be dismissed.

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