Texas Woman Who Almost Died Miscarrying Under the State’s Abortion Ban Files Federal Complaints Against the ERs That Turned Her Away

Last February, ProPublica revealed that in the years since Texas’ total abortion ban went into effect, relatively treatable pregnancy complications have become unnecessarily deadly. Much of this could be seen in the state’s drastic rise of maternal mortality and sepsis infections, as well as the deaths of Tierra Walker, Porsha Ngumezi, Josseli Barnica, and Nevaeh Crain. But while the state legislature in March 2025 passed a bill (SB 31) seeking to resolve this by clarifying doctors wouldn’t be punished for treating miscarriages, a federal complaint filed on Monday revealed how little it’s done with regards to making the state any less dangerous for pregnant people. 

Per the Texas Tribune, Lynn Callaway has lodged a court filing against two hospitals that turned her away while she was miscarrying, claiming that both ERs violated the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act, a federal law requiring hospitals to stabilize anyone who shows up at their doors. 

In her complaint, the 40-year-old was seven weeks pregnant in October when she started spotting and experiencing pain, and a nurse practitioner at her OBGYN’s office told her she might be experiencing an ectopic pregnancy. They ordered her bloodwork, and given the numbers indicated a miscarriage, Callaway was told to go to the emergency room. There, she told the nurse she was in pain and bleeding, and a doctor confirmed that she was miscarrying. 

By this point, there was no fetal cardiac activity—so Callaway thought she could receive abortion-inducing medication, as per medical standard. Instead, she was told by the ER to go home, wait for the pregnancy to pass, and to treat it like a “bad period.” In her complaint, she added that while the doctor told her her bloodwork looked fine, she could see the specimen was still in the room, and not yet tested. When the bloodwork came back the next morning, a nurse told her that while her results weren’t “normal,” they weren’t “necessarily life- or limb-threatening.” She was referred back to her OBGYN.

Now, when someone experiences a miscarriage, doctors will typically remove tissue from inside the uterus, such as through a D&C, a dilation and curettage; or with abortion pills, like mifepristone and misoprostol. Unless this is quickly done, patients can experience prolonged and heavy bleeding, sepsis, or infection. So when Callaway tried a different hospital the next day, they confirmed she developed an infection—though still only gave her pain medication and antibiotics instead of abortion-inducing pills.

Texas ERs sent Lynn Callaway home—twice—while she was miscarrying with an active infection. Doctors feared 99 years in prison more than they feared watching her die.

Let’s Address Texas State Director Saadia Mirza breaks down Lynn’s case & what you can do right now to fight back.

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— Qasim Rashid, Esq. (@qasimrashid.com) June 23, 2026 at 9:35 PM

 

“If the hospital isn’t going to treat you, what are you going to do?” Callaway told the Tribune. She remembers thinking, “no one’s here to help me.” “I just felt like I was on my own, and that these people didn’t care.”

Eventually, Callaway got to see her OBGYN—who was immediately concerned by the signs of infection and blood loss, and who finally gave her the abortion-inducing medication she’d been seeking for days. When she asked about the delay, her doctor replied that the ER would have to be “damned sure that it’s an actual miscarriage to be offering the pill.”

Alas, the matter of being “damned sure” can sure have detrimental costs. Technically, this was supposed to be the very issue SB 31 addressed, and the law went into effect in June 2025, with Gov. Greg Abbott (R-Tex.) saying it would provide “clinical clarity.” However, that bill was quietly padded with a “Trojan horse” provision to further attack abortion, layering on a criminal offense for anyone who performs an abortion or provides the resources for one. So much for clarity.