Two Texas women who were denied abortion care due to life-threatening ectopic pregnancies have filed a complaint with the Biden administration, asking for an investigation into the hospital for violating federal law.
An ectopic pregnancy is a dangerous condition in which a fertilized egg implants in the fallopian tube instead of the uterus. It has no chance of developing into a healthy pregnancy.
One complaint details how Kylie Thurman, a 25-year-old woman from Burnet, Texas, was refused treatment at Ascension Williamson Hospital in February despite her obstetrician-gynecologist telling her she may have an ectopic pregnancy.
She returned to the hospital a few days later with bleeding and severe pain, but was only able to receive treatment after an obstetrician-gynaecologist attended the hospital and “begged the medical staff” to terminate Thurman’s ectopic pregnancy.
But the delay led to a ruptured ectopic pregnancy, leaving Thurman near death from excessive bleeding and requiring emergency surgery to remove her fallopian tubes. Her ability to bear children is now in jeopardy.
According to a second lawsuit, Kelsey Norris de la Cruz had a similarly harrowing experience at Texas Health Arlington Memorial Hospital outside Dallas, where her pregnancy was on the verge of rupturing when she received treatment. Norris de la Cruz lost her fallopian tube and most of her right ovary.
Ectopic pregnancy is the leading cause of maternal deaths during early pregnancy, accounting for up to 10% of pregnancy-related deaths nationwide.
“Even though my life was clearly at risk, the hospital said they couldn’t help me. I ended up losing half my fertility and would very likely have died if I had waited longer,” Norris de la Cruz said in a press release.
The two complaints filed by the Center for Reproductive Rights with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services allege that the hospital violated the long-standing Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (Emtala), which requires hospitals to provide stabilization care, including abortions, to patients with emergency medical conditions.
After the Biden administration issued guidelines under the Emtala Act to protect hospitals that provide abortion care in emergency situations, Texas officials sued the federal health department and secured a block on the guidelines in 2022. (Earlier this year, the U.S. Supreme Court dismissed a case that considered whether Emtala preempted Idaho’s abortion ban, sending it back to a lower court; meanwhile, a conservative appeals court has upheld the block on care in Texas.)
Texas has some of the strictest abortion laws in the nation, but treatment for ectopic pregnancies, which can lead to serious complications or even death, is expressly permitted under state law and is not considered an “abortion,” a provision that was reaffirmed in legislation passed during the state’s last legislative session.
Despite that exception, the lawsuit argues, state abortion laws still impose stiff penalties, including $100,000 fines and life imprisonment, on doctors who violate them, instilling fear in doctors and endangering their willingness to provide care.
“How many more people are going to have to die before we see change? These women are proof that even the most explicit abortion bans don’t mitigate the risks by making exceptions,” said Beth Brinkman, senior director of U.S. litigation at the Center for Reproductive Rights. “It’s impossible to have your patient’s best interests in mind when you’re facing a life sentence. Texas authorities are putting doctors in a difficult position.”
The complaint calls on the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to investigate the hospital and hold it accountable, including by imposing fines on Emtala.
A recent Associated Press analysis found that since 2022, more than 100 pregnant women who sought help at emergency rooms for medically serious conditions were denied care or received “negligent treatment.”
