Pregnant People Are Facing a GOP-made Crisis in Emergency Rooms

In the two years since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and close to half of states have imposed total or near-total abortion bans, pregnant people across the country have suffered horrific consequences, as doctors weigh the threat of prison time with providing life-saving, stabilizing health care. On Monday, the Associated Press published a new report that identified over 100 cases of pregnant people turned away from emergency rooms since Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health in 2022. In some cases, they’ve been forced to miscarry in public bathrooms, denied emergency abortions for life-threatening ectopic pregnancies, or made to wait for several hours in waiting rooms while experiencing urgent pregnancy complications.

In Arkansas, the AP cites an unnamed woman who “went into septic shock and her fetus died after an emergency room sent her home.” A different woman in Texas similarly went into sepsis last year after she was denied emergency abortion care for a nonviable pregnancy; she nearly died before the hospital finally induced labor to end the pregnancy. In California, where abortion is legal, one pregnant woman who needed a blood transfusion was forced to wait for nine hours in an emergency waiting room.

One of the women identified in the AP’s report, Kyleigh Thurman of Texas, filed a legal complaint to the Biden administration this week against the hospital that denied her treatment for her ectopic pregnancy in 2023. Abortion is the only treatment for an ectopic pregnancy, which is a nonviable, potentially life-threatening condition that occurs when a fertilized egg develops outside the uterine wall, often in the fallopian tubes, and is incompatible with life. Still, the hospital delayed providing treatment—seemingly due to the state’s abortion laws—to Thurman until it was too late, requiring a procedure to remove one of her fallopian tubes and severely jeopardize her fertility moving forward. Thurman is one of four women the AP identified who were denied timely emergency care for ectopic pregnancies.

Also in 2023, in Florida, a woman who was 15 weeks pregnant leaked amniotic fluid for an hour in an emergency room as a result of a severe fetal condition known as PPROM (pre-viability premature rupture of the membranes) that comes with the threat of a life-threatening infection. In such a situation, doctors typically induce labor or perform an abortion, but the ER doctor treating the woman said they couldn’t induce her due to Florida’s 15-week abortion ban. (As of May, Florida enforces a six-week ban.) A nurse gave the woman antibiotics and promised to pray for her. The following day, she miscarried in the restroom of a hair salon. Medical records obtained by the Washington Post at the time showed she lost about half the blood in her body over the course of the day.

“Whether you live in a ban state or a so-called ‘safe’ state, this affects us all,” Dr. Jamila Perritt, a D.C.-based OBGYN and president of Physicians for Reproductive Health, told Jezebel of the AP’s harrowing findings. “When health care providers are forced to try to interpret the intentionally confusing legal loopholes of abortion bans, prioritize their own safety and well-being over that of their patients due to fear of criminal or civil punishment, or even delay time sensitive care until pregnant people are extremely sick, it means that tragically patients suffer and in some cases are turned away from the essential health care they need.”

The U.S. has the highest maternal mortality rate among wealthy nations, and states with more restrictions on abortion have higher maternal and infant mortality rates due to strained access to the full range of prenatal care. While post-Dobbs maternal mortality data isn’t yet available, all evidence suggests abortion bans have worsened this crisis.

The AP’s report stresses that abortion bans are a driving force in the health system’s increasingly dangerous mistreatment of pregnant people. Texas, for example, threatens doctors found in violation with life in prison, a $100,000 fine, and loss of medical license; several other states similarly threaten doctors with prison time. “It’s impossible to have the best interest of your patient in mind when you’re staring down a life sentence,” Beth Brinkmann, senior director of U.S. litigation at the Center for Reproductive Rights, said in a statement shared with Jezebel on Monday. The Center is representing two Texas women including Thurman who were denied treatment for ectopic pregnancies in legal complaints they’ve filed to the Biden administration. “Texas officials have put doctors in an impossible situation.” 

The AP stressed that “serious violations” were uncovered in states with and without abortion bans. These violations often occurred due to hospital staffing shortages. Abortion bans are unlikely to help with attracting additional medical personnel: One study published in May found American medical students are less likely to apply to residency programs in states with abortion bans. A survey from December showed three out of four future U.S. doctors said abortion bans are a key factor in where they’ll apply for residencies.

“Patients deserve better. Doctors deserve better,” Perritt said. “We all deserve better.”