Elisabeth Weber, 31, was pregnant when she learned the fetus had stopped growing weeks earlier, and there was no longer a heartbeat The South Carolina resident says she was denied medical help when she did not miscarry naturally She had to wait for weeks to get medical help due to the state's strict anti-abortion laws Elisabeth Weber’s child was “very wanted,” the 31-year-old mom from Greenville, S.C., tells PEOPLE. “We actually always felt like it was a boy,” she said. “We named him Lorenzo Thomas Weber, Enzo for short.” Weber has three daughters, Neveah, 8, Story, 5, and Finley, 18 months, and had a son Stone, who died of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) in 2018.

She and her husband Thomas had already told their landlord they needed to move to a bigger place to accommodate the new baby. But on March 27, 2025, when she was 9 weeks pregnant, she learned that Enzo had stopped growing three weeks earlier, and a heartbeat could not be detected. Elisabeth Weber says her baby was "very wanted.".

courtesy Elisabeth Weber “The baby stopped growing at 6 weeks and one day,” she says, recalling that she was told she was "definitely having a miscarriage.” She was sent home to miscarry naturally, but Weber, who struggled with the debilitating sickness hyperemesis gravidarum (HG) for all of her pregnancies, said she was experiencing all the symptoms of pregnancy even after Enzo’s heartbeat stopped. “My body was not recognizing that I wasn't pregnant anymore. I was still completely bedridden with nausea, throwing up all the time,” said Weber, who returned to the emergency room on March 31.

“The baby had not grown at all. There's still no heartbeat. At that point, I was almost 10 weeks.” She asked for a dilation and curettage, a medical procedure that removes tissue from inside the uterus — explaining, “With my HG and all of that, I'm so sick.

I have three kids, and waiting around to go into a mini-labor is just hard.” Elisabeth Weber with her children Neveah, 8, Story, 5, and Finley, 18 months. courtesy Elisabeth Weber Weber said she was told, "'Because of the law — the heartbeat bill — we legally have to wait.' ” That law is South Carolina's ban on abortions after 6 weeks, which is when a fetal heartbeat can usually be detected, hence the term “heartbeat bill.” “My baby didn't have a heartbeat, and it still prevented me from getting care,” Weber tells PEOPLE, explaining that she was told she had to wait two weeks to see if she would miscarry on her own.

She recalls being asked if it was a "wanted" pregnancy. "And I was like, ‘Yes, it's very much wanted.’ She seemed to be implying that I was trying to sneakily get rid of it. Obviously, that was not the case.

I looked at her and literally was like, ’My baby is dead. Every doctor I've talked to knows my baby is dead. My baby is not going to magically get a heartbeat.’ “ Elisabeth Weber, husband Thomas, and children Neveah, Story, and Finley.

courtesy Elisabeth Weber Weber was told to come back only if “I started heavily bleeding, like hemorrhaging." Unless she was septic or hemorrhaging, there was nothing they could do before that two-week mark. While in her car, she posted an emotional video on TikTok that went viral, as she shared it was confirmed “the baby is dead, no heartbeat” — and she was denied a D&C even though “my body still thinks that I am pregnant.

My body is not passing the baby the way it’s supposed to.” “My baby has been sitting inside me dead for three weeks already,” Weber said, “and now I have to wait another week knowing my baby is dead to do anything about it.” Elisabeth Weber rests at home with Neveah, 8, Story, 5, and Finley, 18 months. courtesy Elisabeth Weber As she told PEOPLE, “I can't believe that I'm being forced to carry around my dead baby. They know it's gone, they know it's dead, they know it's stopped developing, and now I'm being forced to carry it … there's really no feeling like when your womb becomes a tomb.” Weber told PEOPLE that after she posted her TikTok, a patient advocate contacted her and recommended she go to a different hospital.

There, she learned her “white blood cell count was super high. Everything was showing that I was in an active infection.” But after hours at the hospital, she was told she didn’t meet the criteria for a D&C. “I was still in a ton of pain, but they just sent me home with Oxycodone,” Weber says.

“I felt like I couldn't even grieve … I haven't even had a moment to just sit and mourn this. I lost my son from SIDS at 10 weeks old, so it obviously brought up a lot from that loss as well.” During this time, Weber “obviously wasn't able to work, my husband was taking time off work, so it also added a financial burden on top of all of it.” The family now has a GoFundMe to help with expenses.

The stress of the situation caused Thomas to have a Crohn’s disease flare as well. When she was finally able to get a D&C after the waiting period was over, Weber tells PEOPLE, “on my paperwork, it says abortion.” Now, she is sharing her story to draw attention to the law. "I hope that some good comes out of this really terrible situation,' she says.

Hopefully just open up people's eyes to see this is so dangerous for women. This is hurting women.” And now that the D&C is behind her, she is "finally able to start grieving the loss," she says. "My little Enzo."

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