Two Texas women who were denied abortion care for life-threatening ectopic pregnancies have filed complaints with the Biden administration calling for investigations into the hospitals for violating federal law.
An ectopic pregnancy is a dangerous condition in which the fertilized egg implants in the fallopian tube instead of the uterus. It has no chance of developing into a healthy pregnancy.
One of the complaints details how Kyleigh Thurman, a 25-year-old woman from Burnet, Texas, was turned away at Ascension Williamson hospital in February, even though her OB-GYN told the hospital she probably had an ectopic pregnancy.
Days later, she returned, bleeding and in severe pain, but only received treatment after her OB-GYN traveled to the hospital “to plead with the medical staff” to terminate Thurman’s ectopic pregnancy.
However, the delay caused her ectopic pregnancy to rupture. Thurman nearly bled to death and was forced into emergency surgery to remove her fallopian tube. Her ability to have children is now compromised.
According to the second complaint, Kelsie Norris-De La Cruz experienced a similar harrowing ordeal at Texas Health Arlington Memorial hospital, outside Dallas. By the time she received treatment, her pregnancy was near rupture. Norris-De La Cruz lost a fallopian tube and most of her right ovary.
Ectopic pregnancy is the leading cause of maternal mortality in the first trimester, comprising up to 10% of all pregnancy-related deaths nationwide.
“Despite the fact that my life was clearly in danger, the hospital told me that they could not help me. I ended up losing half of my fertility and if I was made to wait any longer, it’s very likely I would have died,” said Norris-De La Cruz in a press release.
Filed by the Center for Reproductive Rights, the two complaints with the US Department of Health and Human Services allege hospitals violated the longstanding Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (Emtala), which requires hospitals to provide stabilizing care, including abortions, to patients with emergency medical conditions.
After the Biden administration issued guidance meant to protect hospitals who offer abortion care in emergency situations under Emtala, Texas state officials sued the federal health department and secured a block on that guidance in 2022. (Earlier this year, the US supreme court dismissed a case that weighed whether Emtala superseded Idaho’s abortion ban, returning the case to a lower court. Meanwhile, a conservative appellate court have upheld the block on care in Texas.)
While Texas carries one of the strictest abortion bans in the US, treatment for ectopic pregnancy – which can lead to serious complications and even death – is explicitly allowed under state law and thus not considered “abortion”. This was reaffirmed by a law passed during the state’s last legislative session.
The complaint notes that despite that exception, the severe penalties physicians face for violating the state’s abortion ban, which include $100,000 in fines and up to life in prison, has instilled fear in doctors, jeopardizing their willingness to provide care.
“How many more people will nearly die before we see change? These women are proof that exceptions do not make abortion bans less dangerous, even when they are exceedingly clear,” said Beth Brinkmann, senior director of US litigation at the Center for Reproductive Rights. “It’s impossible to have the best interest of your patient in mind when you’re staring down a life sentence. Texas officials have put doctors in an impossible situation.”
The complaint asks the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to conduct an investigation into the hospitals and enforce Emtala to hold them accountable, including issuing potential penalties.
More than 100 pregnant women in medically dire situations who sought help from emergency rooms were turned away or “negligently treated” since 2022, a recent Associated Press analysis found.
