REAL LIFE IMPACTS OF ABORTION BANS
Since Roe vs. Wade was overturned in June 2022, and many states instituted bans on abortions at the state level, there are real examples of why and how abortion bans are causing damage and real health issues for women.
NOVEMBER 2024. Another Woman Dies from Lack of Pregnancy Care from Abortion Bans in Place. On the day of her baby shower, the 6-months pregnant teen mother had gone to two different emergency rooms with pain and vomiting within 12 hours, returning home after denied care, each time worse than before, due to the bans in place and that her fetus had a heart beat.
The pregnant woman's mother, "Candace Fails, screamed for someone in the Texas hospital to help her pregnant daughter. “Do something,” she pleaded, on the morning of Oct. 29, 2023. Nevaeh Crain was crying in pain, too weak to walk, blood staining her thighs. Feverish and vomiting the day of her baby shower, the 18-year-old had gone to two different emergency rooms within 12 hours, returning home each time worse than before."
On her third visit, she was made to wait hours before care, only to die of sepsis a few hours after. Read Nevaeh Crain's story here.
The pregnant woman's mother, "Candace Fails, screamed for someone in the Texas hospital to help her pregnant daughter. “Do something,” she pleaded, on the morning of Oct. 29, 2023. Nevaeh Crain was crying in pain, too weak to walk, blood staining her thighs. Feverish and vomiting the day of her baby shower, the 18-year-old had gone to two different emergency rooms within 12 hours, returning home each time worse than before."
On her third visit, she was made to wait hours before care, only to die of sepsis a few hours after. Read Nevaeh Crain's story here.
SEPTEMBER 2024. At Least Two Women Die in GA After Unable to Get Legal Abortion Care.
Amber Nicole Thurman "had taken abortion pills and encountered a rare complication; she had not expelled all of the fetal tissue from her body. She showed up at Piedmont Henry Hospital in need of a routine procedure to clear it from her uterus, called a dilation and curettage, or D&C. But just that summer, her state had made performing the procedure a felony, with few exceptions. Any doctor who violated the new Georgia law could be prosecuted and face up to a decade in prison. Thurman waited in pain in a hospital bed, worried about what would happen to her 6-year-old son, as doctors monitored her infection spreading, her blood pressure sinking and her organs beginning to fail. It took 20 hours for doctors to finally operate. By then, it was too late.
Though Republican lawmakers who voted for state bans on abortion say the laws have exceptions to protect the “life of the mother,” medical experts cautioned that the language is not rooted in science and ignores the fast-moving realities of medicine. The most restrictive state laws, experts predicted, would pit doctors’ fears of prosecution against their patients’ health needs, requiring providers to make sure their patient was inarguably on the brink of death or facing “irreversible” harm when they intervened with procedures like a D&C." Read full ProPublica article on this story here.
Candi Miller, who was a 41-year-old mother of three, had a lot of medical complications, including diabetes, lupus, and hypertension. She was told by her doctors that it would be dangerous and possibly life threatening for her to go through another pregnancy. "But when the mother of three realized she had unintentionally gotten pregnant in the fall of 2022, Georgia’s new abortion ban gave her no choice. Although it made exceptions for acute, life-threatening emergencies, it didn’t account for chronic conditions, even those known to present lethal risks later in pregnancy. So she avoided doctors and navigated an abortion on her own — a path many health experts feared would increase risks when women in America lost the constitutional right to obtain legal, medically supervised abortions. Miller ordered abortion pills online, but she did not expel all the fetal tissue and would need a dilation and curettage procedure to clear it from her uterus and stave off sepsis, a grave and painful infection. In many states, this care, known as a D&C, is routine for both abortions and miscarriages. In Georgia, performing it had recently been made a felony, with few exceptions. Her teenage son watched her suffer for days after she took the pills, bedridden and moaning. In the early hours of Nov. 12, 2022, her husband found her unresponsive in bed, her 3-year-old daughter at her side. Read the full ProPublica article here.
In Response, the State of Georgia Dismisses All Members of Maternal Mortality Committee. After ProPublica reported in September on the deaths of Amber Thurman and Candi Miller, which the state maternal mortality review committee had determined were preventable, the full committee was dismissed. This was reported to be due to a leak of this confidential information. The State of GA responded by immediately disbanding the committee that was formed to investigate deaths of pregnant women.” Read more here.
Amber Nicole Thurman "had taken abortion pills and encountered a rare complication; she had not expelled all of the fetal tissue from her body. She showed up at Piedmont Henry Hospital in need of a routine procedure to clear it from her uterus, called a dilation and curettage, or D&C. But just that summer, her state had made performing the procedure a felony, with few exceptions. Any doctor who violated the new Georgia law could be prosecuted and face up to a decade in prison. Thurman waited in pain in a hospital bed, worried about what would happen to her 6-year-old son, as doctors monitored her infection spreading, her blood pressure sinking and her organs beginning to fail. It took 20 hours for doctors to finally operate. By then, it was too late.
Though Republican lawmakers who voted for state bans on abortion say the laws have exceptions to protect the “life of the mother,” medical experts cautioned that the language is not rooted in science and ignores the fast-moving realities of medicine. The most restrictive state laws, experts predicted, would pit doctors’ fears of prosecution against their patients’ health needs, requiring providers to make sure their patient was inarguably on the brink of death or facing “irreversible” harm when they intervened with procedures like a D&C." Read full ProPublica article on this story here.
Candi Miller, who was a 41-year-old mother of three, had a lot of medical complications, including diabetes, lupus, and hypertension. She was told by her doctors that it would be dangerous and possibly life threatening for her to go through another pregnancy. "But when the mother of three realized she had unintentionally gotten pregnant in the fall of 2022, Georgia’s new abortion ban gave her no choice. Although it made exceptions for acute, life-threatening emergencies, it didn’t account for chronic conditions, even those known to present lethal risks later in pregnancy. So she avoided doctors and navigated an abortion on her own — a path many health experts feared would increase risks when women in America lost the constitutional right to obtain legal, medically supervised abortions. Miller ordered abortion pills online, but she did not expel all the fetal tissue and would need a dilation and curettage procedure to clear it from her uterus and stave off sepsis, a grave and painful infection. In many states, this care, known as a D&C, is routine for both abortions and miscarriages. In Georgia, performing it had recently been made a felony, with few exceptions. Her teenage son watched her suffer for days after she took the pills, bedridden and moaning. In the early hours of Nov. 12, 2022, her husband found her unresponsive in bed, her 3-year-old daughter at her side. Read the full ProPublica article here.
In Response, the State of Georgia Dismisses All Members of Maternal Mortality Committee. After ProPublica reported in September on the deaths of Amber Thurman and Candi Miller, which the state maternal mortality review committee had determined were preventable, the full committee was dismissed. This was reported to be due to a leak of this confidential information. The State of GA responded by immediately disbanding the committee that was formed to investigate deaths of pregnant women.” Read more here.
AUGUST 2024. Dozens of pregnant women, some bleeding or in labor, are turned away from ERs despite federal law. Read Associated Press article here, excerpt below:
"More than 100 pregnant women in medical distress who sought help from emergency rooms were turned away or negligently treated since 2022, an Associated Press analysis of federal hospital investigations found. Two women — one in Florida and one in Texas — were left to miscarry in public restrooms. In Arkansas, a woman went into septic shock and her fetus died after an emergency room sent her home. At least four other women with ectopic pregnancies had trouble getting treatment, including one in California who needed a blood transfusion after she sat for nine hours in an emergency waiting room." Read full article.
"More than 100 pregnant women in medical distress who sought help from emergency rooms were turned away or negligently treated since 2022, an Associated Press analysis of federal hospital investigations found. Two women — one in Florida and one in Texas — were left to miscarry in public restrooms. In Arkansas, a woman went into septic shock and her fetus died after an emergency room sent her home. At least four other women with ectopic pregnancies had trouble getting treatment, including one in California who needed a blood transfusion after she sat for nine hours in an emergency waiting room." Read full article.
AUGUST 2024. Kylie Thurman was denied abortion for an ectopic pregnancy that cannot be carried to term. After cramps and nonstop bleeding, Kyleigh Thurman went to see her OB-GYN about her pregnancy. Upon showing signs of an ectopic pregnancy, where the a fertilized egg grows outside the uterus (it will rupture the fallopian tube and is likely to result in death if not treated), her hospital did not have the abortion medication needed to treat this condition. She drove to an hour to a Catholic facility but was told to leave and come back in a few days to check progression. When she finally got the medication she needed, it was too late. Her fallopian tube was ruptured and she was bleeding out. To save her life, doctors had to remove her right fallopian tube, leaving her with lower chances of having a successful pregnancy in the future. Texas' near-total abortion ban prohibits doctors from performing the procedure except when a patient faces "a life-threatening condition" that places them at risk of death or "substantial impairment of a major bodily function." Physicians who are found guilty of violating the ban could face criminal penalties up to life in prison.
Read the full story.
Read the full story.
NATIONAL INTERVIEW OF WOMEN ACROSS THE US - December 2023. Women with high-risk pregnancies face new reality after Roe v. Wade overturned. ABC News' Diane Sawyer and Rachel Scott report on pregnant women with high-risk pregnancies in the 21 states that have enforced their own laws since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.
OCTOBER 2023 - IN. Taysha Wilkinson-Sobieski died after being unable to access healthcare for an ectopic pregnancy due to state abortion ban. Her local hospital had just closed its labor and delivery ward a month prior, due to OBGYNs leaving states with abortion bans. When she arrived at the hospital with debilitating pain, there was no one there with skills to help her. She was transferred to another medical center where she died two days later of a ruptured fallopian tube. A condition that is wholly treatable normally. She leaves behind her husband and a 1-year old child.
OCTOBER 2023 - OH. Brittany Watts was 21 weeks pregnant when she was admitted to a hospital in Youngstown Ohio with vaginal bleeding. Doctors determined her water broke early. Read the excerpt from the NY Times article below:
Doctors were able to detect cardiac activity but 'recommended she be induced and deliver the fetus despite its nonviable status,' the report said, because she was at significant risk of maternal death, sepsis or 'complete placental abruption with catastrophic bleeding.' On her initial visit to the hospital, Ms Watts left after waiting eight hours for a hospital ethics panel to determine whether to induce her pregnancy without legal ramifications because she was on the cusp of Ohio’s viability timeline, 22 weeks, Ms. Timko told The Associated Press. The hospital declined to comment.
Ms. Watts went home to “process the information she was told,” the coroner’s report said. She returned the next day with the same symptoms and left a second time without treatment.
Doctors were able to detect cardiac activity but 'recommended she be induced and deliver the fetus despite its nonviable status,' the report said, because she was at significant risk of maternal death, sepsis or 'complete placental abruption with catastrophic bleeding.' On her initial visit to the hospital, Ms Watts left after waiting eight hours for a hospital ethics panel to determine whether to induce her pregnancy without legal ramifications because she was on the cusp of Ohio’s viability timeline, 22 weeks, Ms. Timko told The Associated Press. The hospital declined to comment.
Ms. Watts went home to “process the information she was told,” the coroner’s report said. She returned the next day with the same symptoms and left a second time without treatment.
On Sept. 22, Ms. Watts passed the fetus at home alone in her bathroom and returned to the hospital, where she received a dilation and curettage, also called a D and C, to remove the placenta, according to the report. The hospital notified the Warren City Police Department about the miscarriage and “the need to locate the fetus.” The police found the fetus clogged in her bathroom toilet, the report said, noting that Ms. Watts had told the police that she disposed of what she believed to be the remains in a bucket in her backyard. The police then took the entire toilet out of the home and took it to a morgue, “where it was broken open” to retrieve the fetus, the report said.
The autopsy report found that the fetus had died in utero — before delivery — because of complications of premature rupturing of the membranes. The police charged Ms. Watts on Oct. 5 with abuse of corpse as a felony under a law adopted by the Ohio Legislature in 1996. The case is being prosecuted by the Warren City Prosecutor’s Office.
Ohio Physicians for Reproductive Rights sent a letter to the prosecutor “protesting the unjust prosecution” of Ms. Watts, and urged him to dismiss “the unwarranted” charge. More than 4,000 health care workers and community leaders signed the letter. Ms. Watts is being “demonized for something that goes on everyday,” her lawyer said before the judge.
In October 2024, one year later after significant national exposure and harassment, charges were dismissed. Read the excerpt from the NY Times article.
The autopsy report found that the fetus had died in utero — before delivery — because of complications of premature rupturing of the membranes. The police charged Ms. Watts on Oct. 5 with abuse of corpse as a felony under a law adopted by the Ohio Legislature in 1996. The case is being prosecuted by the Warren City Prosecutor’s Office.
Ohio Physicians for Reproductive Rights sent a letter to the prosecutor “protesting the unjust prosecution” of Ms. Watts, and urged him to dismiss “the unwarranted” charge. More than 4,000 health care workers and community leaders signed the letter. Ms. Watts is being “demonized for something that goes on everyday,” her lawyer said before the judge.
In October 2024, one year later after significant national exposure and harassment, charges were dismissed. Read the excerpt from the NY Times article.
Complications in pregnancy and childbirth are the leading causes of death in girls 15-19, according to the World Health Organization |
Abortion IS Health Care. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists state that "access to the full spectrum of medical care, including abortion, is essential for people's health, safety, and well-being. Physicians must be able to provide medical care to people without outside interference." |
DECEMBER 2023 - OK. The legal challenge involves the case of Brittany Gunsolus, 27, who used marijuana edibles and topical creams during her pregnancy with a recommendation from her doctor, according to the filing. Gunsolus gave birth to a healthy baby in Lawton in October 2020 who tested positive for marijuana. Child welfare workers closed an investigation after finding Gunsolus’ home was safe and loving. But the Comanche County District Attorney still charged Gunsolus with felony child neglect in May 2021. Attorneys for Gunsolus argue she can’t be prosecuted for using an illegal drug during her pregnancy because medical marijuana is the same as any other legal medication used at the direction of a doctor under Oklahoma law. At a court hearing in Comanche County in August, a prosecutor argued Gunsolus broke the law because her unborn child did not have its own, separate state license to use medical marijuana. Read the full article.
"She is one of at least 26 women charged with felony child neglect in Oklahoma since 2019 for using marijuana during their pregnancies (per a The Frontier investigation). The crime can carry a term of up to life in prison in Oklahoma, though previous defendants pleaded guilty and received probation. They are not allowed to vote until probation period is complete.
Brian Hermanson, one of two prosecutors in the state who has brought charges against pregnant women, has not responded to multiple recent requests for comment. In past interviews, he has said the warnings on Oklahoma’s medical marijuana license justify his cases against mothers. “If they make bad decisions about using drugs while they're pregnant, they're probably going to make other bad decisions when raising the child,” he said last November."
"She is one of at least 26 women charged with felony child neglect in Oklahoma since 2019 for using marijuana during their pregnancies (per a The Frontier investigation). The crime can carry a term of up to life in prison in Oklahoma, though previous defendants pleaded guilty and received probation. They are not allowed to vote until probation period is complete.
Brian Hermanson, one of two prosecutors in the state who has brought charges against pregnant women, has not responded to multiple recent requests for comment. In past interviews, he has said the warnings on Oklahoma’s medical marijuana license justify his cases against mothers. “If they make bad decisions about using drugs while they're pregnant, they're probably going to make other bad decisions when raising the child,” he said last November."
JUNE 2023 - MA. Upon learning she was pregnant, a Massachusetts woman searched online for a place to get an ultrasound scan nearby and found the Clearway Clinic. This clinic advertised itself as a medical clinic, when it is in fact what is termed a "crisis pregnancy center" run by an anti-abortion group. A staffer performed and ultrasound and findings of the test, reporting she had a "viable, in-utero pregnancy, which she did not." Staffers later followed up with the woman, encouraging her to "keep her pregnancy going." One month later, the ectopic pregnancy (which always requires immediate termination to protect the life of the mother), resulted in the plaintiff's fallopian tube rupturing, "causing massive internal bleeding and necessitating emergency surgery" and the loss of one fallopian tube. According the the plaintiff's lawyer, the staffer "missed" the ectopic pregnancy because "she wasn’t qualified to do this." It is against state medical regulations for anyone other than a qualified doctor to review an ultrasound with patient.
Excerpts from NBC News article:
Excerpts from NBC News article:
- "Crisis pregnancy centers are facilities that seek to dissuade women from having abortions and often offer resources, including diapers, baby clothes and STI tests, according to Crisis Pregnancy Center Map."
- "The majority of staff members at crisis pregnancy centers are volunteers, according to the Charlotte Lozier Institute, an arm of the anti-abortion group Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America. As of 2019, the institute found, less than 40% of such centers' combined staff and volunteer workers were licensed medical professionals."
- "Two undercover NBC News producers visited state-funded crisis pregnancy centers in Texas after Roe v. Wade was overturned, and their investigation found that counselors falsely claimed abortions cause mental illness and falsely implied they could lead to cancer and infertility."
JUNE 2023 - TX. At their 15-week ultrasound appointment, Terry and Eric (not real names) were excited to learn the sex of their baby, only to find out that the fetus had a rare abnormality, not developing a head or anything above the neck. While there was no chance of survival, there was still a heartbeat present. "Texas’ abortion law doesn’t have an exception for fetal abnormalities, not even lethal ones. The state requires women to carry pregnancies even when the fetus has no chance of survival, a cruelty that Republican legislators don’t like to talk about. " Terry was also dealing with other health issues and was very sick. Terry's specialist doctor assured her there was only one solution to protect her health - abortion. "Terry’s OBGYN, however, who is anti-abortion, gave different advice. She recommended that Terry carry the pregnancy until she went into labor", claiming it would be "emotionally better." For another 23 weeks. Crushed by the news, they decided to travel 11 hours to New Mexico for an abortion, receiving no support from family or community. Real the full article on Jessica Valenti's substack.
Medical centers are closing down maternity units because it is no longer safe or ethical for doctors to practice OB GYN medicine in states with abortion bans. Doctors have shown reluctance to practice in places where making the best decision for a patient could result in huge fines or even a prison sentence.
- Missouri - Hendrick Medical Center in rural Missouri is no longer delivering babies, closing down it's Maternity Unit. People now are left with having to drive 1.5 hrs. to the next available medical center - even for emergencies.
- Idaho - Bonner General Health, the only hospital in Sandpoint, Idaho, announced it would discontinue its labor and delivery services, in part because of "Idaho's legal and political climate" that includes state legislators continuing to "introduce and pass bills that criminalize physicians for medical care nationally recognized as the standard of care."
- "An early indication of that impending medical "brain drain" came in February, when 76% of respondents in a survey of more than 2,000 current and future physicians say they would not even apply to work or train in states with abortion restrictions." Read NPR Article on doctors leaving states with bans.
MAY 2023 - MO & KS. Mylissa Farmer was denied abortion care in two states - Missouri and Kansas - after her water broke at less than 18 weeks into the pregnancy. "But according to federal documents, during three emergency room visits over two days in Missouri and Kansas, doctors repeatedly gave Farmer the same chilling message: Though there was virtually no chance her fetus would survive and the pregnancy was putting her at high risk for life-threatening complications, there was nothing they could do for her. A federal investigation found two hospitals involved in Farmer’s care were violating a federal law that requires hospitals to treat patients in emergency situations [Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act]. If the hospitals do not demonstrate they can provide appropriate care to patients in Farmer’s situation, they stand to lose future access to crucial Medicare and Medicaid funding." Read full article here.
MAY 2023 - TX. After a woman's water broke at 19 weeks, she was diagnosed with cervical insufficiency and required to stay at the hospital to wait to deliver the child. Standard care in this instance is an abortion, but this was not legal in TX. “I was told that if I tried to discharge myself, or seek care elsewhere, that I could be arrested for trying to kill my child.” She was made to feel like a criminal on one the hardest days of her life. She has now joined the class action lawsuit against Texas. Read full article.
MAY 2023 - KY. Heather Maberry, a KY resident, found out at 20 weeks into her pregnancy of her fourth child that the baby had anencephaly, which is a condition where the developing fetus was missing parts of her skull and brain. "Ordinarily, the treatment would be to induce the fetus, which would probably be still-born or die soon after birth. But the UK doctors told her that under Kentucky’s draconian new abortion laws, that would be considered abortion. Her only choice was to travel out of state for an abortion or an induction. “I’m living the worst nightmare a mother could imagine,” Maberry said, starting to cry. “I’m being forced to carry my child who will never breathe to full term or I have to have an abortion that I don’t believe in or want to do.” Although she used to consider herself anti-abortion, Maberry could not bear the thought of carrying a dead baby to term; she has high blood pressure and is suffering anxiety attacks from her current stress. Hundreds of women in states like Kentucky are facing these terrible decisions right now. Many have been told they will have to be septic before a doctor can take action." Read full article.
MAY 2023 - Oklahoma. Jaci Statton, 25-yr old mother of 3, was excited to find out she was pregnant. Eight weeks into the pregnancy, she started bleeding heavily, went to emergency room and staff said it was likely a miscarriage and to meet with her doctor. "At an appointment with her OB-GYN the next day, she was told she actually had a partial molar pregnancy. Jaci says her doctor told her: "It is non-viable. It is potentially cancerous." With partial molar pregnancies, there is a risk of heavy bleeding, infection, and a life-threatening condition called preeclampsia that can lead to organ failure. There's also a risk that cancer will develop. The treatment is a dilation and curettage or D&C — a procedure that clears tissue out of the uterus. A D&C is the most common type of surgical abortion. Even though Jaci's pregnancy was not viable and the embryo would never develop into a full-term infant, there was cardiac activity. Jaci's doctor said she couldn't treat Jaci at the Catholic hospital where she works. Jaci was transferred to the University of Oklahoma Medical Center. Doctors there confirmed the partial molar pregnancy diagnosis and were ready to do a D&C, but Jaci says an ultrasound tech from the emergency department objected because he detected fetal cardiac activity. The D&C didn't happen. Instead, she was transferred yet again, this time to Oklahoma Children's Hospital. At Oklahoma Children's Hospital, she says the medical staff told her that her condition was serious. "You at the most will last maybe two weeks," she remembers them telling her. But still, cardiac activity was detectable, and the doctors would not provide a D&C. "They were very sincere, they weren't trying to be mean," she says. "They said, 'The best we can tell you to do is sit in the parking lot, and if anything else happens, we will be ready to help you. But we cannot touch you unless you are crashing in front of us or your blood pressure goes so high that you are fixing to have a heart attack.'' Jaci was instructed by doctors that she should drive three hours to Kansas to have the procedure done, and hope that she didn't fatally hemorrhage along the way. She obtained the procedure, grieving for the loss of her child, only to have to go through a crowd of anti-abortion protestors on the way out. "Seven weeks after her ordeal, Jaci Statton is still recovering. She will have to keep having her hCG levels checked for weeks — maybe as long as six months — to make sure no cancer is developing. So, at the age of 25, when she has her IUD removed, she's decided to get a tubal ligation this month. "I don't think mentally I would be okay if I were to get pregnant again." She says she is "pro-life," but she's decided to speak publicly about her experience because she doesn't want anyone else to have to go through it. "I think something needs to be done" about the state abortion laws, she says. "I don't know how else to get attention, but this needs to change." Read the full article here.
May 2023 - FL. A Florida woman, Deborah Dorbert, learned at 23 weeks that her fetus had Potter Syndrome, resulting in no kidneys as well as lungs that wouldn't develop properly. Unable to get an abortion in her state, she was forced carried to term a baby who would not survice. Not only was the baby sure to die, her doctors told her, but she was at high risk of preeclampsia (a deadly complication). Because of FL laws, she was denied abortion care and forced to carry the baby for another "agonizing" 13 weeks of carrying a baby she knew would die and worrying about her own health. She held her son while he struggled to breath for 99 minutes before he died. Read the full article.
APRIL 2023 - FL. After a many miscarriages, Anya Cook finally made it to the 15-week mark of a pregnancy. However, her water broke prematurely at nearly 16-weeks. She was rushed to the emergency room, but when she was finally seen by a doctor, she was told that “because of the state’s abortion law, he could not induce labor.” She was essentially told to leave, offered antibiotics, and a nurse told her that she “promised to pray for her.” The next day Cook passed her fetus in a public bathroom and almost end up dying in the operating room from losing too much blood. Shanae Smith-Cunningham was also denied care for the same condition the next day. Pre-viability preterm prelabor rupture of the membranes (PPROM) is “when a pregnant mother’s water breaks before viability.” This condition does not fall under any exceptions to Florida's 15 week abortion ban. Despite the overwhelming evidence, former Republican state senator Kelli Stargel still insists that there does not need to be any carve-outs for PPROM, stating “The bottom line is we value life, and we would like to protect life…We don’t want to give a gaping exception that anyone can claim.”
As Cook said, “Getting pregnant now feels like a death sentence,” with Smith-Cunningham adding “They are playing with people’s lives with this law,” and with the abortion ban at six-weeks now “hurtl[ing] forward [through the legislature], it appears DeSantis is happy to let his constituents die, nearly die, or suffer greatly simply for the sake of his presidential ambitions.” Read the full article.
As Cook said, “Getting pregnant now feels like a death sentence,” with Smith-Cunningham adding “They are playing with people’s lives with this law,” and with the abortion ban at six-weeks now “hurtl[ing] forward [through the legislature], it appears DeSantis is happy to let his constituents die, nearly die, or suffer greatly simply for the sake of his presidential ambitions.” Read the full article.
MARCH 2023 - TN. Mayron Hollis was denied abortion care in TN from her high risk pregnancy, despite doctors warning the pregnancy could kill her. The embryo had become implanted in scar tissue from a recent cesarean section, and she was in serious danger. Without an aborition, she was very likely to lose her uterus, bladder and life. Dr. Mack Goldberg said that "even with the best medical care in the world, some patients bleed out in less than 10 minutes on the operating table. Goldberg had seen it happen." Dr. Goldberg was willing to perform the procedure, but could not get anyone else (nurses, techs) to assist him. A week later, emergency surgery to save her life resulted in a hysterectomy, making her unable to bear more children. Read the full article.
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MARCH 2023: Five women have sued the state of TX citing they were denied medical care for life-threatening health risks during their pregnancies. Excerpts from BBC article:
"Texas bars abortions except for medical emergencies, with doctors facing punishment of up to 99 years in jail. According to the lawsuit, doctors are refusing the procedure even in extreme cases out of fear of prosecution. The Center for Reproductive Justice has filed the legal action on behalf of the five women - Ashley Brandt, Lauren Hall, Lauren Miller, Anna Zargarian and Amanda Zurawski - and two healthcare providers that are also plaintiffs." UPDATE July 2023: 15 women have now joined this lawsuit.
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"Healthcare should not be determined by some politician with no understanding of medicine or the critical role that abortion care plays in pregnancy." Lauren Miller, one of the mothers suing Texas. |
"All were told that their fetuses would not survive, but were not given the option of an abortion, which they described as "standard medical procedure" throughout the country and in the state before Texas' ban came into effect."
Amanda Zurawski (35) became pregnant after 18 months of fertility treatments. In her second trimester, she was informed she had dilated prematurely and that the loss of her fetus was "inevitable." "But even though we would, with complete certainty, lose Willow (the baby's name), my doctor could not intervene while her heart was still beating or until I was sick enough for the ethics board at the hospital to consider my life at risk," Amanda said. She was forced to wait until her body entered sepsis (blood poisoning) - and doctors were allowed to perform an abortion. She spent three days in intensive care and a condition that will make it harder for her to conceive in future.
The remaining plaintiffs faced similar pregnancy complications and had to travel outside TX to get a medically necessary abortion procedure.
Amanda Zurawski (35) became pregnant after 18 months of fertility treatments. In her second trimester, she was informed she had dilated prematurely and that the loss of her fetus was "inevitable." "But even though we would, with complete certainty, lose Willow (the baby's name), my doctor could not intervene while her heart was still beating or until I was sick enough for the ethics board at the hospital to consider my life at risk," Amanda said. She was forced to wait until her body entered sepsis (blood poisoning) - and doctors were allowed to perform an abortion. She spent three days in intensive care and a condition that will make it harder for her to conceive in future.
The remaining plaintiffs faced similar pregnancy complications and had to travel outside TX to get a medically necessary abortion procedure.
Exceptions to abortions bans don't work. And it's not just in theory. "With the threat of losing their medical licenses, fines of hundreds of thousands of dollars, and up to 99 years in prison lingering over their heads, it is no wonder that doctors and hospitals are turning patients away - even patients in medical emergencies," the TX lawsuit reads.
OB-GYNs are leaving states where abortions are banned.
- One large medical recruiting firm said it recently had 20 obstetrician-gynecologists turn down positions in red states because of abortion laws. Washington Post (August 2022)
- A recent survey shows that more than 45% of OBGYN physicians are currently considering or exploring relocation out of Idaho. In the last six months, three of the maternal fetal medicine physicians (high risk pregnancy specialists) in our state have decided to leave Idaho. Idaho Capital Sun (March 2023)
March 2023
Allie Williams, a TN mother, was informed her the baby stopped growing at 15 weeks. "There was a lot more wrong than just low fluid, no fluid, and her kidneys. We found out that she has a very rare brain defect called Semilobar holoprosencephaly, HPE for short." Phillips is the only thing keeping her baby alive, and the longer she carries her to term, she says it becomes more dangerous for the both of them. She says doctors told her the unborn child also has a heart defect and other abnormalities and could die any day now. She was denied care in TN and had to travel to NY City to get an abortion. Read full article.
Allie Williams, a TN mother, was informed her the baby stopped growing at 15 weeks. "There was a lot more wrong than just low fluid, no fluid, and her kidneys. We found out that she has a very rare brain defect called Semilobar holoprosencephaly, HPE for short." Phillips is the only thing keeping her baby alive, and the longer she carries her to term, she says it becomes more dangerous for the both of them. She says doctors told her the unborn child also has a heart defect and other abnormalities and could die any day now. She was denied care in TN and had to travel to NY City to get an abortion. Read full article.
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FEBRUARY 2023
"In Ohio, for four years, the Longs tried to have a baby, enduring multiple rounds of grueling and expensive fertility treatments. In September 2022, Beth finally became pregnant. But an ultrasound four months later showed that most of the baby's organs were outside the body. The condition, called limb body wall complex, is rare. "They will die. There's no way there will be a life," said Dr. Alireza Shamshirsaz, a spokesperson for the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine. The condition posed dangers for Beth too, and the bigger the baby was, the higher the risk of complications, including dangerous bleeding that might require a hysterectomy. They say their doctor urged them to terminate the pregnancy as soon as possible. But when the Longs tried to schedule the abortion, they found out that their insurance wouldn't pay for it. Beth takes care of breast cancer patients at a state-owned hospital, and as a state of Ohio employee, and state law bans her health insurance from paying for abortions except in certain cases. Endangerment to the life of the mother is one of them, and although she was at an increased risk for potentially deadly complications, Beth's life was not in imminent danger, and the Longs say their doctor told them the insurance wouldn't cover the procedure. Beth and Kyle would have to foot the bill: between $20,000 and $30,000. After spending $45,000 on fertility treatments, they didn't have the money. It took them three weeks to make arrangements to go to a hospital that could perform the complicated abortion at a lower price. It was hours away, in another state. During that three-week wait -- a wait they had to endure only because of the Ohio law -- the risk to Beth of potentially deadly complications grew. Nearly two weeks after the abortion, Beth and Kyle are filled with both grief and anger. In the meantime, they're mourning their child and want to help other families who might be in their situation. First, they want them to know that there are resources to help, such as Planned Parenthood and groups like the Abortion Fund of Ohio. Second, they're reaching out to state legislators who support the "heartbeat bill" that passed the Ohio legislature in 2019. It banned nearly all abortions after fetal cardiac activity is detected, about the sixth week of pregnancy, but a judge in Cincinnati issued an injunction in October, and now in Ohio abortion is allowed up to 22 weeks. They say they hope their story will help change legislators' minds. "I don't want any other families to have to go through this," Kyle said. "I wouldn't wish this on my worst enemy, and something needs to change," Beth adds that she thinks all women should have the right to an abortion, not just women like her whose babies have fatal abnormalities." Read full article. |
"We wanted more than anything to have this baby, and the laws in place prevented us from getting the proper health care that we needed," Kyle said. |
DECEMBER 2022
A mother of two in Nashville, TN, went to the Vanderbilt University Medical Center emergency room with abdominal pain at 3pm. By 6:45 pm they realized she was pregnant, despite having an IUD in place. By 8:15 pm they realized the pain was coming from the fact that it was an ectopic pregnancy (where the tissue, a fertilized egg, implants outside the uterus, most commonly in the fallopian tube). If left untreated, the tube will rupture cause hemorrhaging, hypovolemic shock, and in some cases can lead to death. Not only was her pregnancy ectopic, but there was enough bleeding for it to show up as floating around in her cavity, requiring surgery and an abortion to repair the damage. By 9pm, the hospitals legal staff got involved. She had to wait more than three hours for the legal team to OK treatment surgery, which began just before 1am. The treatment in the state of TN currently was considered a felony. Read the full article.
A mother of two in Nashville, TN, went to the Vanderbilt University Medical Center emergency room with abdominal pain at 3pm. By 6:45 pm they realized she was pregnant, despite having an IUD in place. By 8:15 pm they realized the pain was coming from the fact that it was an ectopic pregnancy (where the tissue, a fertilized egg, implants outside the uterus, most commonly in the fallopian tube). If left untreated, the tube will rupture cause hemorrhaging, hypovolemic shock, and in some cases can lead to death. Not only was her pregnancy ectopic, but there was enough bleeding for it to show up as floating around in her cavity, requiring surgery and an abortion to repair the damage. By 9pm, the hospitals legal staff got involved. She had to wait more than three hours for the legal team to OK treatment surgery, which began just before 1am. The treatment in the state of TN currently was considered a felony. Read the full article.
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OCTOBER 2022
A 35 year old Texas woman, Amanda Zurawski, started to have a miscarriage at 18 weeks. While difficult for any expecting parents, this was particularly hard because they had spent the last year and a half in fertility treatments trying to concieve. Upon seeking help, her doctors told her that she had "an incompetent cervix and had dilated too early. She was told that miscarriage was inevitable. However, the near-total ban on abortion in Texas meant that the doctors couldn't do anything to remove the unviable fetus unless Amanda's life was at risk. She would either have to get sick enough for doctors to intervene, or miscarry on her own. |
"I never in my wildest dreams thought that the laws I was so angry about would pose a threat to my life and prevent me from accessing safe healthcare in 2022 in the United States of America," says Amanda Zurawski |
Excerpts from the full article: "It could be days, it could be weeks. And knowing that we just had to live with that, it was incapacitating," Amanda says. "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," she says through tears. Because doctors weren't able to perform an abortion, Amanda was at risk for infection. She became sick with sepsis, a life-threatening condition. She was sent straight to the ICU. "That was the scariest thing I've ever gone through in my life — seeing Amanda on what could have been her deathbed." Although Amanda didn't realize how ill she was a the time — friends and family were rushing to her bedside, fearing she would die — she has since been processing what happened to her. "It took three days at home until I became sick 'enough' that the ethics board at our hospital agreed we could begin medical treatment; three days until my life was considered at risk 'enough' for the inevitable premature delivery of my daughter to be performed; three days until the doctors, nurses, and other healthcare professionals were allowed to do their jobs," she writes in a first-person essay for The Meteor, a media company committed to storytelling around issues of gender equity.
"It was just so frustrating to be dealing with something so traumatic, and then just gamble with the outcome of Amanda's life unnecessarily," says Josh. Amanda continues to face long-term implications from the bacterial infection and is undergoing surgery next week. "The scar tissue in my uterus is so severe that they have to go in to surgically remove it," she says. "And that is a result of the infection that I developed because I had to wait three days to get healthcare." Read the full article. The couple is now sharing their emotional story as part of a video series in which three obstetrician-gynecologists travel the country to help share the harm unfolding under abortion bans.
"It was just so frustrating to be dealing with something so traumatic, and then just gamble with the outcome of Amanda's life unnecessarily," says Josh. Amanda continues to face long-term implications from the bacterial infection and is undergoing surgery next week. "The scar tissue in my uterus is so severe that they have to go in to surgically remove it," she says. "And that is a result of the infection that I developed because I had to wait three days to get healthcare." Read the full article. The couple is now sharing their emotional story as part of a video series in which three obstetrician-gynecologists travel the country to help share the harm unfolding under abortion bans.
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JULY 2022
A Texas woman (Marlena Stell) trying to conceive found out about 9½ weeks into her pregnancy that she had suffered a miscarriage and lost her pregnancy because of a blighted ovum (when a fertilized egg implants in the uterus but does not develop into an embryo). The doctor told her that the fetus did not have a heartbeat and the pregnancy was no longer viable. In these cases, to protect the health of the mother, a standard D&C (dilation and curettage) is performed to remove the fetus to prevent infection and long term health issues. However, her doctor would not perform this procedure because of their potential risk of legal prosecution. Instead she was told to leave and miscarry at home. She was denied standard care, put at risk of serious infection, and spent more than two weeks finding a provider to give her the medical intervention that physicians had denied her. Read the article. |
“People need to understand how these laws affect all women, even cases like mine,” she said. “I feel like it’s very dangerous for government of any type to be intervening in a woman’s care because there’s multiple reasons of why she may need a procedure.” Marlena Stell |
DECEMBER 2022
A conservative, Christian couple in South Carolina was forced to carry unviable fetus for seven weeks, then fly D.C. for an abortion after Roe v Wade was overturned. At an 18-week scan in August doctors warned her unborn baby — Ivy Grace — could hav the incurable heart condition Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome (HLHS). Twenty-eight days later they got the confirmed diagnosis of HLHS. HLHS is normally diagnosed at about week 18 to 20 in pregnancy. It cannot be detected earlier because the heart has not properly developed. Most baby’s born with the condition die within days and are in terrible pain, meaning they need to be heavily sedated. Because South Carolina bans abortion from six weeks, they had to travel 500 miles to Washington DC to get the procedure. The pregnancy was terminated at 25 weeks, with Washington DC allowing abortion to be legal at all stages of pregnancy. She is revealing her story, to support other women and put pressure on South Carolina's authorities to row back on their abortion restrictions, forming the Ivy Grace project, named after their daughter who died, to educate the public and policy makers about fetal anomalies, which are often detected four or five months into a pregnancy -- too late in states like South Carolina to terminate a pregnancy. Read article.
A conservative, Christian couple in South Carolina was forced to carry unviable fetus for seven weeks, then fly D.C. for an abortion after Roe v Wade was overturned. At an 18-week scan in August doctors warned her unborn baby — Ivy Grace — could hav the incurable heart condition Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome (HLHS). Twenty-eight days later they got the confirmed diagnosis of HLHS. HLHS is normally diagnosed at about week 18 to 20 in pregnancy. It cannot be detected earlier because the heart has not properly developed. Most baby’s born with the condition die within days and are in terrible pain, meaning they need to be heavily sedated. Because South Carolina bans abortion from six weeks, they had to travel 500 miles to Washington DC to get the procedure. The pregnancy was terminated at 25 weeks, with Washington DC allowing abortion to be legal at all stages of pregnancy. She is revealing her story, to support other women and put pressure on South Carolina's authorities to row back on their abortion restrictions, forming the Ivy Grace project, named after their daughter who died, to educate the public and policy makers about fetal anomalies, which are often detected four or five months into a pregnancy -- too late in states like South Carolina to terminate a pregnancy. Read article.
"My 25 years as a physician, what I’ve learned, what I’ve trained, all the extra hours of study, is just being tossed away by lawmakers,” Dr. Power said. “For some patients, it’s incredibly serious—it’s the medication that’s keeping their disease under control.” |
OCTOBER 2022
In Arizona, a 14-year old girl was denied medication "for her debilitating arthritis and osteoporosis, because methotrexate can possibly induce a miscarriage and the girl is of childbearing age." The girl, Emma Thompson, has been taking this medication all her life for this condition, which has caused multiple hospital stays, inability to participate in everyday kids activities like playing on playground and riding a bike. Walgreens denied her medication only because she is of child-bearing age. Read the article. |
In Wisconsin, a women went to the local emergency room because she was bleeding from a miscarriage. The ER staff turned the woman away instead of helping her, for fear of prosecution (punishable by up to six years in prison). She went home to suffer and bleed for 10 days before she could find another doctor that would help her. She needed a doctor to provide the necessary treatment with medication in order to "expel the fetal tissue" from her uterus, which happens to be the same medication used in many abortions. The doctor that provided care reported that by the time she got care more than 10 days later she was still bleeding severely and at serious risk of infection.” Read the article.
In Texas, a woman whose water broke at 19 weeks of pregnancy, making the pregnancy nonviable, had to decide between waiting to see if she could access care in Texas or getting on a plane to get an abortion elsewhere. She ended up taking the risk of flying out of state while experiencing a significant health emergency. Read the article.
In Texas, a woman whose water broke at 19 weeks of pregnancy, making the pregnancy nonviable, had to decide between waiting to see if she could access care in Texas or getting on a plane to get an abortion elsewhere. She ended up taking the risk of flying out of state while experiencing a significant health emergency. Read the article.
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In Michigan, a woman had a life-threatening ectopic pregnancy (which is never viable) and, according to the doctor, could rupture at any moment. She was turned away at the emergency room at University of Michigan after a doctor worried that the presence of a fetal heartbeat meant treating her might be illegal. She was refused care, despite the fact that it was life threatening.
Source: MSNBC - Rachel Maddow (see video inset) |
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In Louisiana, a woman 16 weeks pregnant had her water break, rendering the pregnancy non-viable. Continuing the pregnancy at that point would have put the woman’s life at risk. Her doctor wanted to perform a dilatation and evacuation (a type of 15-min abortion procedure) to take out the non viable fetus. The state's rules force her to go through induced delivery labor, despite the patients wishes and the doctors advice, resulting in long hours of pain to deliver a non-viable fetus. The woman was screaming in both pain and emotional trauma, and hemorrhaged a liter of blood. Her doctor was quoted saying "There is no reason for any patient to have to go through this."
Source: MSNBC - Rachel Maddow (see video inset)
Another Texas woman started to miscarry and developed an infection in the womb. Because the fetus still had signs of a heartbeat (which is actually electric pulses, as there are no heart chambers in this stage), an immediate abortion (the usual standard of care) would have been illegal. Her doctor stated that they had to watch her become sicker and sicker until the heartbeat stopped the next day, at which time they could intervene. Because the patient did not receive immediate care, she developed complications, required surgery, lost multiple liters of blood, and had to be put on a ventilator.
Source: MSNBC - Rachel Maddow (see video inset)
Source: MSNBC - Rachel Maddow (see video inset)
Another Texas woman started to miscarry and developed an infection in the womb. Because the fetus still had signs of a heartbeat (which is actually electric pulses, as there are no heart chambers in this stage), an immediate abortion (the usual standard of care) would have been illegal. Her doctor stated that they had to watch her become sicker and sicker until the heartbeat stopped the next day, at which time they could intervene. Because the patient did not receive immediate care, she developed complications, required surgery, lost multiple liters of blood, and had to be put on a ventilator.
Source: MSNBC - Rachel Maddow (see video inset)
A woman in Louisiana was denied an abortion after learning that her fetus did not develop a skull, with no chance of survival. The woman was a mother of three, and planned for a fourth child when she discovered at 10 weeks into the pregnancy that her fetus was afflicted with a rare and fatal condition called acrania, which means it effectively has no skull, and no chance of survival. She was denied an abortion, she and her lawyers have said, because health professionals "were terrified of running afoul of harsh anti-abortion legislation" in her home state. Forced to carry to term (6 additional months), her baby will be dead on delivery. She has said she will travel to another state next week to have the procedure done. Read the article.
In South Carolina, a woman's water broke 15 weeks into pregnancy. Lawyers at the hospital refused to let doctors extract the unviable fetus because it still had a heartbeat. Without treatment, the doctors stated she had a greater than 50% chance of losing her uterus, and 10% chance of developing sepsis. Read the article.
In South Carolina, a woman's water broke 15 weeks into pregnancy. Lawyers at the hospital refused to let doctors extract the unviable fetus because it still had a heartbeat. Without treatment, the doctors stated she had a greater than 50% chance of losing her uterus, and 10% chance of developing sepsis. Read the article.
In Texas, an anti-choice women learned three months into her pregnancy that the fetus had heart, lung, brain, kidney and genetic defects and would either be stillborn or die within minutes of birth. Carrying the pregnancy to term would have put the woman at high risk for severe pregnancy complications, including blood clots, preeclampsia and cancer. However, abortion was not an option in their home state of Texas. The couple was forced to traveled to New Mexico to get an abortion. She reported that this event changed her perspective on the anti-choice stance, and was quoted as saying "I've never felt more betrayed by a place I was once so proud to be from," Kailee said through tears. "How could you be so cruel as to pass a law that you know will hurt women and that you know will cause babies to be born in pain?" she added. "How is that humane? How is that saving anybody?" Read the article.
In Ohio a 10-year old girl was raped and become pregnant, and was unable to receive an abortion in Ohio. She was forced to travel to Indiana from Ohio for an abortion. Read the article.
Affidavits were filed in Cincinnati as part of a lawsuit aimed at stopping enforcement of Ohio’s strict new abortion law, citing more than two dozen additional instances in which the abortion law put women under extreme duress. The descriptions include those of three women who threatened suicide. They also include two women with cancer who couldn’t terminate their pregnancies and also couldn’t get cancer treatment while they were pregnant. Another three examples were of women whose fetuses had severe abnormalities or other conditions that made a successful pregnancy impossible. Even so, they couldn’t get abortions in Ohio. " Read the article.
In Florida, a court ruled that pregnant 16-year old was not mature enough for abortion, forcing her to have baby. Read the article.
In Ohio a 10-year old girl was raped and become pregnant, and was unable to receive an abortion in Ohio. She was forced to travel to Indiana from Ohio for an abortion. Read the article.
Affidavits were filed in Cincinnati as part of a lawsuit aimed at stopping enforcement of Ohio’s strict new abortion law, citing more than two dozen additional instances in which the abortion law put women under extreme duress. The descriptions include those of three women who threatened suicide. They also include two women with cancer who couldn’t terminate their pregnancies and also couldn’t get cancer treatment while they were pregnant. Another three examples were of women whose fetuses had severe abnormalities or other conditions that made a successful pregnancy impossible. Even so, they couldn’t get abortions in Ohio. " Read the article.
In Florida, a court ruled that pregnant 16-year old was not mature enough for abortion, forcing her to have baby. Read the article.
Get Educated on Pregnancy. There are many that cite the "killing of babies" for any abortion. But are you aware of what early pregnancy actually looks like? Without bias? You might be surprised to learn that pregnancies nine weeks and under have no visible embryo. The image below show all of the pregnancy tissue at 5, 6, 7, and 8 weeks of pregnancy after being removed by an abortion. And at six weeks of pregnancy the so-called “heartbeat” is just electrical activity of cells, before an actual heart is formed. Approximately 85% of all abortions in the US happen before 9 weeks of pregnancy. The images, provided by the Mya Network, were taken to counter misinformation with facts about what pregnancy tissue looks like in an early abortion or miscarriage.
Pregnancy tissue at 5 weeks.
Pregnancy tissue at 7 weeks.
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Pregnancy tissue at 6 weeks.
Pregnancy tissue at 8 weeks.
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