Florida Republican Says Abortion Law Fear Delayed Her Care for Ectopic Pregnancy

essentialsaltes · Jun 23, 2025

Representative Kat Cammack went to the emergency room in May 2024 and needed a shot of methotrexate to help expel her ectopic pregnancy.

Florida's ban took effect on May 1, 2024, making abortions illegal after six weeks with narrow exceptions. The penalties for those who violate the ban are steep, punishable by up to five years in prison, fines of up to $5,000 and loss of medical licenses.

Though doctors estimated that she was just five weeks pregnant, there was no heartbeat and her life was at risk, Cammack told the Wall Street Journal that staff had resisted giving her the drug because they were worried about losing their licenses or going to jail after Florida's near-total abortion ban took effect. Hours later, doctors agreed to give her the drug, she told the newspaper.

[Cammack] told the newspaper that she did not blame the Florida law for what she experienced. Rather, she lay the blame on messaging from abortion-rights advocates, which she said made hospital staff afraid of giving drugs even in circumstances where it was legal.

Alison Haddock, the president of the American College of Emergency Physicians, told the Journal that it is common for doctors in states that have restriction access to abortion to be concerned about "whether their clinical judgment will stand should there be any prosecution."

NxNW · Jun 23, 2025

essentialsaltes said:
[Cammack] told the newspaper that she did not blame the Florida law for what she experienced. Rather, she lay the blame on messaging from abortion-rights advocates, which she said made hospital staff afraid of giving drugs even in circumstances where it was legal.

Maybe she could blame everything on Tim Walz, too?

That seems to be popular these days.

essentialsaltes · Jun 23, 2025

NxNW said:
Maybe she could blame everything on Tim Walz, too?

That seems to be popular these days.

Thanks, Tim!

RileyG · Jun 23, 2025

Treatment for an ectopic pregnancy is an emergency, not an elective abortion. Period.

Tropical Wilds · Jun 24, 2025

essentialsaltes said:
[Cammack] told the newspaper that she did not blame the Florida law for what she experienced. Rather, she lay the blame on messaging from abortion-rights advocates, which she said made hospital staff afraid of giving drugs even in circumstances where it was legal.

Talk about snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. She was so close but just couldn’t stick the landing.

Tropical Wilds · Jun 24, 2025

RileyG said:
Treatment for an ectopic pregnancy is an emergency, not an elective abortion. Period.

Except it isn’t always, hence the issue.

RileyG · Jun 24, 2025

Tropical Wilds said:
Except it isn’t always, hence the issue.

Ok.

A New Dawn · Saturday at 10:27 PM

Tropical Wilds said:
Except it isn’t always, hence the issue.

I’m pretty sure the law applies to elective abortions, not medical emergencies. Doctors have always had the right to treat medical emergencies, and they finally did in this case, as they should have all along. The fearmongering of the left is what kept them from doing it earlier when she first went for treatment. This is what happens when lies are spread, she could have died had she been refused treatment for too long.

Tropical Wilds · Sunday at 8:01 AM

A New Dawn said:
I’m pretty sure the law applies to elective abortions, not medical emergencies. Doctors have always had the right to treat medical emergencies, and they finally did in this case, as they should have all along. The fearmongering of the left is what kept them from doing it earlier when she first went for treatment. This is what happens when lies are spread, she could have died had she been refused treatment for too long.

It takes some magical thinking to say the issue isn’t the badly crafted law creating confusion, but the people pointing out the badly crafted law will create confusion. There’s a tropical storm coming to South Carolina… If people die, will you blame the Weather Channel because it’s their fault for reporting a storm was coming?

Larniavc · Sunday at 8:16 AM

essentialsaltes said:
Representative Kat Cammack went to the emergency room in May 2024 and needed a shot of methotrexate to help expel her ectopic pregnancy.

Florida's ban took effect on May 1, 2024, making abortions illegal after six weeks with narrow exceptions. The penalties for those who violate the ban are steep, punishable by up to five years in prison, fines of up to $5,000 and loss of medical licenses.

Though doctors estimated that she was just five weeks pregnant, there was no heartbeat and her life was at risk, Cammack told the Wall Street Journal that staff had resisted giving her the drug because they were worried about losing their licenses or going to jail after Florida's near-total abortion ban took effect. Hours later, doctors agreed to give her the drug, she told the newspaper.

[Cammack] told the newspaper that she did not blame the Florida law for what she experienced. Rather, she lay the blame on messaging from abortion-rights advocates, which she said made hospital staff afraid of giving drugs even in circumstances where it was legal.

Alison Haddock, the president of the American College of Emergency Physicians, told the Journal that it is common for doctors in states that have restriction access to abortion to be concerned about "whether their clinical judgment will stand should there be any prosecution."

Maybe if she hadn’t been fornication knowing full well that her ectopicinarians might not ectopicise properly this would’ve been avertisied.

Kat Cammack’? Kat ‘Too much time with a man in a Hammock’ more like. Whatever happened to absinthe?

NxNW · Sunday at 8:32 AM

A New Dawn said:
I’m pretty sure the law applies to elective abortions, not medical emergencies. Doctors have always had the right to treat medical emergencies, and they finally did in this case, as they should have all along. The fearmongering of the left is what kept them from doing it earlier when she first went for treatment. This is what happens when lies are spread, she could have died had she been refused treatment for too long.

The left didn't create this law. This situation is 100% the fault of the GOP.

A New Dawn · Sunday at 8:43 AM

NxNW said:
The left didn't create this law. This situation is 100% the fault of the GOP.

The problem wasn’t the law, so it couldn’t have been the GOP. The problem was the abortion-rights activists who were pushing the lie that treating an emergency medical procedure was the same thing as an elective abortion. The word “elective” is important in the discussion.

NxNW · Sunday at 8:54 PM

A New Dawn said:
The problem wasn’t the law, so it couldn’t have been the GOP.

If not for that law, there wouldn't have been a problem.

A New Dawn said:
The problem was the abortion-rights activists who were pushing the lie that treating an emergency medical procedure was the same thing as an elective abortion.

Doctors' decisions were not affected by abortion rights activists who do not work for the hospital and do not supervise them. This is a Republican lie.

A New Dawn said:
The word “elective” is important in the discussion.

Republican laws force doctors to wait until an ectopic pregnancy becomes a medical emergency.

A New Dawn · Sunday at 9:30 PM

NxNW said:
If not for that law, there wouldn't have been a problem.

Doctors' decisions were not affected by abortion rights activists who do not work for the hospital and do not supervise them. This is a Republican lie.

Republican laws force doctors to wait until an ectopic pregnancy becomes a medical emergency.

According to the article, yes, the abortions rights activists were doing what activists do, which is sow doubt so that the doctors (and probably the hospital lawyers) had to spend time researching to make sure that the law for medical emergencies was still good (just to cover their butts) when they should have been treating the patient. Ectopic pregnancies are ALWAYS a medical emergency no matter when they are discovered. What a stupid thing to say.

NxNW · Monday at 10:17 AM

A New Dawn said:
According to the article, yes, the abortions rights activists were doing what activists do, which is sow doubt so that the doctors (and probably the hospital lawyers) had to spend time researching to make sure that the law for medical emergencies was still good (just to cover their butts) when they should have been treating the patient.

More accurately, according to the Republican official.

A New Dawn said:
Ectopic pregnancies are ALWAYS a medical emergency no matter when they are discovered. What a stupid thing to say.

I agree! And yet Republican laws are now forcing doctors to wait until it becomes life-threatening.

A New Dawn · Monday at 11:27 AM

NxNW said:
More accurately, according to the Republican official.

I agree! And yet Republican laws are now forcing doctors to wait until it becomes life-threatening.

Can you show me where it says that? TIA.

Or more specifically, can you show me where there are stages of life-threatening, because life-threatening is life-threatening no matter when it occurs.

NxNW · Monday at 8:22 PM

A New Dawn said:
can you show me where there are stages of life-threatening, because life-threatening is life-threatening no matter when it occurs.

An ectopic pregnancy isn't life threatening until it's life threatening. Republican legislation is forcing doctors to wait until she's at death's door. This example is one of many.

A New Dawn · Monday at 9:44 PM

NxNW said:
An ectopic pregnancy isn't life threatening until it's life threatening. Republican legislation is forcing doctors to wait until she's at death's door. This example is one of many.

Is there a link to an article besides the one in the OP? Because it didn’t seem to me that the person needing the treatment was on death’s door yet she received the treatment. She did complain that the doctors waited because they were being harassed by abortion rights activists who were creating drama around the situation and the woman herself didn’t blame the doctor, so there is a lot of conflicting storylines going on. I’d like to see an in depth story before I believe that republicans are forcing women to wait till death’s door before allowing treatment. Or even another story where that is true, because it sounds like fearmongering to me.

ETA: It seems the woman in the article agrees with me that it is the extreme fearmongering by abortion rights activists that are causing the problems.

chilehed · 2025-07-08T08:27:55-0500

NxNW said:
....Republican laws are now forcing doctors to wait until it becomes lilife-threatening.

That's an outrageous lie. The law says absolutely nothing of the sort.

"390.0111 Termination of pregnancies.—
(1) TERMINATION AFTER GESTATIONAL AGE OF 6 WEEKS; WHEN ALLOWED.—A physician may not knowingly perform or induce a termination of pregnancy if the physician determines the gestational age of the fetus is more than 6 weeks unless one of the following conditions is met:
(a) Two physicians certify in writing that, in reasonable medical judgment, the termination of the pregnancy is necessary to save the pregnant woman’s life or avert a serious risk of substantial and irreversible physical impairment of a major bodily function of the pregnant woman other than a psychological condition.
(b) The physician certifies in writing that, in reasonable medical judgment, there is a medical necessity for legitimate emergency medical procedures for termination of the pregnancy to save the pregnant woman’s life or avert a serious risk of imminent substantial and irreversible physical impairment of a major bodily function of the pregnant woman other than a psychological condition, and another physician is not available for consultation."

Full text here.

And as a trained first responder I can assure you that there is no such thing as an ectopic pregnancy that isn't a true medical emergency.

Pommer · 2025-07-08T13:26:03-0500

chilehed said:
Full text here.

And as a trained first responder I can assure you that there is no such thing as an ectopic pregnancy that isn't a true medical emergency.

Section 8 said:
(8) REFUSAL TO PARTICIPATE IN TERMINATION PROCEDURE.—Nothing in this section shall require any hospital or any person to participate in the termination of a pregnancy, nor shall any hospital or any person be liable for such refusal. No person who is a member of, or associated with, the staff of a hospital, nor any employee of a hospital or physician in which or by whom the termination of a pregnancy has been authorized or performed, who shall state an objection to such procedure on moral or religious grounds shall be required to participate in the procedure which will result in the termination of pregnancy. The refusal of any such person or employee to participate shall not form the basis for any disciplinary or other recriminatory action against such person.

So, what’s the controversy?

Florida Republican Says Abortion Law Fear Delayed Her Care for Ectopic Pregnancy

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