In collaboration with Abortion in America, our latest episode of My Body. My Pod. with Mini Timmaraju features Avery Davis Bell, a Georgia mother and genetics researcher who was forced to wait for emergency abortion care until complications were life-threatening. Avery was 18 weeks pregnant when her water broke—a medical emergency that made her pregnancy nonviable and placed her at risk for severe blood loss and sepsis. Even though her doctors knew she needed a D&E (Dilation and Evacuation) procedure, Georgia’s abortion ban created delays while providers determined whether her condition was “serious enough” to legally qualify her for care. Avery had every advantage: early prenatal care, expert medical knowledge, access to a major hospital system, and a strong support network. Her story raises an urgent question: if someone with those resources struggle to receive timely emergency care, what happens to patients facing greater barriers to access? “It’s like insult to injury in the worst possible way,” Avery says.
In collaboration with Abortion in America, our latest episode of My Body. My Pod. with Mini Timmaraju features Avery Davis Bell, a Georgia mother and genetics researcher who was forced to wait for emergency abortion care until complications were life-threatening.
Avery was 18 weeks pregnant when her water broke—a medical emergency that made her pregnancy nonviable and placed her at risk for severe blood loss and sepsis. Even though her doctors knew she needed a D&E (Dilation and Evacuation) procedure, Georgia’s abortion ban created delays while providers determined whether her condition was “serious enough” to legally qualify her for care.
Avery had every advantage: early prenatal care, expert medical knowledge, access to a major hospital system, and a strong support network.
Her story raises an urgent question: if someone with those resources struggle to receive timely emergency care, what happens to patients facing greater barriers to access?
“It’s like insult to injury in the worst possible way,” Avery says.
Mini and Avery discuss:
Episode recorded on March 8, 2026
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