Texas woman with ectopic pregnancy denied abortion

“Normally most physicians want to intervene as soon as they diagnose an ectopic pregnancy, before it ruptures,” Braid said. But S.B. 8 leaves doctors wondering when they can legally take action, he said: “Do you have to wait until it’s about to rupture? Until it has?”

“How do you make that decision under this law? No one wants to get sued,” said Braid, who has been sued at least three times since he wrote the op-ed.

In early September, the National Abortion Federation (NAF) hotline, which coordinates abortion care, received a call from a patient with an ectopic pregnancy in a rural part of South Texas. Rachel Lachenauer, the hotline director, said the woman had no idea what to do: She had been turned away by her regular doctor, she said, who told her that S.B. 8 prevented them from terminating the pregnancy. The woman told Lachenauer the doctor was “nervous” about getting sued, Lachenauer recalled.

Lachenauer and another NAF staff member, who worked on her case and confirmed the story, told the patient to go to the closest emergency room right away. Shortly after that, Lachenauer said, the patient called back: When she called the hospital, she told NAF, they said she would have to seek care in another state.

“We’re pretty flabbergasted at this point,” Lachenauer said. “We are a remote call center. We can’t go and pick her up.” The whole time, Lachenauer said, she was consulting with NAF’s medical team, who said the patient was in immediate danger.

The patient ended up driving between 12 and 15 hours to a hospital in New Mexico, Lachenauer said, where she was able to terminate her pregnancy."


The Texas abortion ban has a medical exception. But some doctors worry it’s too narrow to use.

 

And incredibly expensive as the time of rupture is uncertain, so to actually save her life, she would need to be admitted to the hospital for observation/inpatient stay until the rupture occurs. If she were not admitted, she would bleed to death prior to arriving at a hospital.

At the point of rupture, the ectopic pregnancy would be considered naturally terminated, and the medical staff would move on to attempting to stop the hemorrhaging and resolving the ensuing infection so the mother is less likely to die or require amputations due to sepsis. The wait (admit time) could be hours to weeks depending on the site of implantation. The very invasive surgery needed to stop the hemorrhaging is much more expensive for both the surgery and the recovery time than the medically necessary abortion would have been.

It is also very likely after the rupture if the mother lives, she will be less likely to conceive later and will likely need one or more fallopian tubes/ovaries removed to stop the hemorrhaging.

 

No, they will be suing the doctors who did not terminate the pregnancy resulting in loss of life or limb for the mother. The doctors cannot win if they choose to treat pregnant women. Perform the life-saving abortion, and potentially get sued by countless citizens ad nauseum. Don't perform the abortion, get sued by the family. In a state with an already inadequate number of OBGYNs and enact laws that will likely reduce the numbers even more.

Physician Shortage Grows Worse Across Texas - Texas 2036

I want abortion dramatically reduced, but this is not the solution in my opinion.