The bill makes no exceptions for pregnancies that resulted from rape or incest. In Texas, the second-largest state in the nation, legal abortion immediately ceased to be an option except to save the life of the pregnant patient. While another law enacted last year forbids dispensing and shipping abortion-inducing medications like misoprostol, mifepristone and methotrexate past seven weeks of a pregnancy, it makes exceptions for when the drugs are used for other medical reasons.. Thats why Crawford said its important for patients to quickly seek medical care if they notice their pregnancy isnt progressing normally or they are bleeding. "It is a pro-life position to allow physicians to make those life-and-death decisions," Seago said. Sign up for The Brief, our daily newsletter that keeps readers up to speed on the most essential Texas news. But she was barely out the door, still in the parking lot, when her phone rang. Elizabeth touches the urn of her daughter. But now in Texas, the new laws are creating uncertainties that may deter some doctors and other providers from offering optimal miscarriage treatment. But the Wellers and 28 million other Texans had already been living under a de facto abortion ban for 8 months, since September 2021. "They can absolutely do that.". Halls fetus was diagnosed with anencephaly, a neural tube defect in which the brain, skull and scalp do not develop properly in the womb. It is just possible that chemical abortions more than half of all U.S. abortions soon could be outlawed nationwide. The protesters outside a Seattle-area abortion clinic waved pictures of bloody fetuses, shouting that she was a baby killer and begging her to choose life. An attendee holds her child during A Texas Rally for Abortion Rights at Discovery Green in Houston, Texas, on May 7. Anencephalic babies born alive will likely survive only for hours or days; they will be unconscious, blind, deaf and will not voluntarily respond to touch or sound, according to the Cleveland Clinic. In Texas' anti-abortion . And she goes 'I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry, I didn't know.'". Double your gift when you give by 6 p.m. Thursday. I had not been put in the crossroads of this issue.". So I'm here to call you to register for your delivery on October 5th, so I can collect all your insurance information. Many physicians say they cannot intervene in complex pregnancies that may not pose an immediate threat to the patient but can rapidly spin out of control. As Friday dragged on, Elizabeth started wondering if maybe the heartbeat had stopped. You dont get a lot of time to respond, and if you dont respond quickly enough, your patient expires.. Elizabeth was 18 weeks pregnant. Sometimes, she said, a woman has a spontaneous miscarriage and is heavily bleeding, but the fetus has not passed and cardiac activity can still be detected. And surprisingly, both of their families sent money to help pay for the trip, despite their anti-abortion sentiments. "Being pregnant in a state like Texas is a dangerous . As Hall learned the hard way, the law makes no exception for lethal fetal anomalies. The hospital where she works pays me to have these conversations with patients, but theres not necessarily any guarantee they would have my back should someone decide to list my name on a lawsuit, she said. The women who will be forced to carry these babies are the women with less resources, he said. They had to call their OB/GYN repeatedly to get the $500 delivery deposit refunded. Julia Robinson for NPR I couldnt do that.. Elizabeth has been sharing her story, and has found that whatever the political affiliation of the listener, they all agree her experience was horrible. A fertilized egg can't survive an ectopic pregnancy and can result in life-threatening bleeding, according to the Mayo Clinic. Halls entire vision of this pregnancy giving birth, becoming a mom, watching her daughter grow up evaporated in an instant. But in cases of unviable pregnancies in which fetal cardiac activity can still be detected, treatment to remove the expected miscarriage could be considered illegal under Texas laws, Grossman said. If patients run into trouble filling prescriptions, Thoppil and Crawford say they should try to find another pharmacy or talk to their health care provider. Its one of the most egregious invasions of the physician-patient relationship that weve ever seen, said Dr. Rick Snyder, a cardiologist in Dallas who is chair of the board of trustees of the Texas Medical Association. But Prager believes that the laws in Texas and perhaps elsewhere soon . This law will prohibit almost all abortions. But I need you to tell me the truth, because I don't think all the positive things that they're telling me are real. She just put her arms around me and took my hand and she was like, I know you dont want to be here, but youre in good hands. In some cases, the infection can become severe or life-threatening, leading to sepsis, hysterectomy or even death. Since Sept. 1, abortion has been illegal in Texas after six weeks gestation, with one exception: If a doctor determines that a patient will face a " medical emergency " if the pregnancy continues, they can perform an abortion later on without breaking the law. I'm trying to understand. ", The Wellers do want to try again, but first they need to get to a "mentally healthier place," Elizabeth says. The bill . But the National Advocates for Pregnant Women provide free legal assistance to women who have been charged with a crime because of a pregnancy loss like a miscarriage. Hall was 18 weeks along when she went in for hers on a Friday afternoon. Its been a difficult few weeks since the procedure. If a woman's life is in danger, she will be able to have an abortion. Photograph: Esteban Flix/AP They now had some of the symptoms they needed to show the infection was getting worse. Now she wants those sentiments translated into action. Their daughter, as expected, was stillborn. Since the Texas laws include a stipulation that there must be intent to induce an abortion, Mayo said that he'd advise physicians and other clinicians to closely document the rationale for medical care, whether it's to treat a miscarriage or an ectopic pregnancy. judicial order, all other provisions of Texas law regulating or The next day, Elizabeth's ob-gyn came to the hospital to arrange the procedure. She wanted them to experience the agony she felt when she learned that her fetus was developing without a skull or a brain, a condition her doctors told her was incompatible with life.. "We skipped over the genetic testing offered in the first trimester," Elizabeth says. Elizabeth and James Weller at their home in Houston two months after losing their baby girl due to a premature rupture of membranes. ", State abortion laws are complicating other types of obstetric care. Greg Abbott last year, not only bans abortion after six weeks of pregnancy but also deputizes citizens to enforce it, allowing any person to bring a . He said the association has been in communication with some pharmacy leaders to help clarify proper interpretation of the rules.. I was losing my mind, Hall said. That is a pregnancy that occurs outside the uterus. Treatment of ectopic pregnancy is not prohibited by Texas' abortion laws. The result has been disarray and confusion for doctors and hospitals in multiple states, and risky delays and complications for patients facing obstetrical conditions such as ectopic pregnancies, incomplete miscarriages, placental problems, and premature rupture of membanes. But Im still so angry I had to leave.. They have private waiting rooms for these patients and offer grief support, genetic counseling and even bereavement services, including ways to memorialize the lost pregnancy. In cases in which a medical provider may be hesitant to conduct a needed treatment, itll be critical for patients to stay informed, seek help or get more than one medical opinion, said Joanna Grossman, a professor at Southern Methodist Universitys Dedman School of Law. They told her the signs of a more severe infection would include a fever of 100.4 degrees and chills. But when membranes rupture earlier in pregnancy, particularly before 24 weeks, the chance of a fetus surviving plummets. A fight began, which Elizabeth first became aware of as her doctor paced the hall outside her room, talking on her phone. They don't want to get sucked into a legal morass. Elizabeth and James keep remembrances of their baby in a picture frame at home. The new abortion bans or the old laws being resurrected in a post-Roe world are rigidly written and untested in the courts. Or what if the pregnancy wasnt viable? she said. Since pharmacists rotate through that Walmart, Liedtke decided to send those prescriptions to other pharmacies rather than attempt to sort out the misunderstanding anew each time. It's an emotional and legal dilemma that potentially faces not just obstetricians and midwives, but also family physicians, emergency physicians, pharmacists, and anyone else who might become involved with pregnancy care. To Dr. Peaceman at Northwestern, it sounded like the hospital's clinicians were using the most common clinical signs of chorioamnionitis as a guideline. When they learned they were having a girl, Hall and her husband even picked out a name: Amelia. That's when a new state law banned all abortions after fetal cardiac activity is detected usually at about six weeks of pregnancy. So we look at them like a ticking time bomb and wait for the complications to develop.. Doctors and experts also worry that patients with pregnancy complications may be too afraid of being accused of inducing an abortion to seek care. To deal with the increased demand, Cedar River has reopened a previously shuttered location, enhanced its telemedicine services and worked to find ways to help patients pay for travel and procedures. "And if you leave it up to individuals, you're going to get uncertainty and people unwilling to make decisions. Or hell honestly it shouldn't even get to the point where you're having to save a woman's life. Hall, raised in a conservative Christian family outside Dallas, felt like she had whiplash from the sudden and tragic events that had brought her to an abortion clinic halfway across the country. "I ripped my organs out" to avoid that, she said. Researchers with the Texas Policy Evaluation Project at the University of Texas at Austin documented several cases in which doctors waited to treat pregnancy complications until a patients health had deteriorated to the point that their life was in danger. She recalls looking at her baby's little hands and crying. I have seen cases where the woman has gone from completely normal to septic shock in less than an hour, Dr. Carpenter said. A wait for fetal death, or her own encroaching illness. [1/2] Pro-choice and anti-abortion both demonstrate outside the United States Supreme Court as the court hears arguments over a challenge to a Texas law that bans abortion after six weeks in . Elizabeth could not receive the medical care she needed until several days later because of a Texas law that banned abortion after six weeks. "And if they didn't believe me, I was going to show it to them and say "Look! "It wasn't that the Methodist Hospital was refusing to perform a service to me simply because they didn't want to, it was because Texas law put them in a position to where they were intimidated to not perform this procedure.". She never had to use that bag. "I was born with a physical disability. "I was just laying in bed, you know, wondering: Am I pregnant or am I not pregnant? Selective reductions are forbidden under the new state law. Dr. Palmer, the obstetrician in Fort Worth, said that one of her patients was trying to get pregnant after the new law went into effect, and she had consensual sex with her partner. Hall was in her second trimester when the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, ending the constitutional protection for abortion and allowing states to set their own laws governing abortion access. Among other risks, both the fetus and Elizabeth were now highly vulnerable to a uterine infection called chorioamnionitis. This represents more confusion around state policy. "To them my life was not in danger enough.". Because once they reached Methodist, while they were still checking in at the emergency room, her doctor called. As the Supreme Court appears poised to return abortion regulation to the states, recent experience in Texas illustrates that medical care for miscarriages and dangerous ectopic pregnancies would also be threatened if restrictions become more widespread. Carrying the pregnancy to term would be emotionally grueling and would also raise the mothers risk of blood clots and severe postpartum bleeding, the doctor warned. Correction, Oct. 24, 2022 at 4:12 p.m.: Either way, she saw nothing ahead but fear and grief prolonged, delayed, amplified. A miscarriage is generally defined as the loss of a fetus before the 20th week of pregnancy typically because of complications outside of a patients control. But in other situations, he said, providers may need to intervene to stop bleeding and make sure no pregnancy tissue remains, as a guard against infection. Texas is the state weve seen the biggest increase from, Sanchez said. "We live in a culture that advocates small government and yet we are allowing states, we are allowing our Texas state government to dictate what women do with their own bodies and to dictate what they think is best, what medical procedures they think is best for them to get.". Doctors can clearly legally save a woman's . Elizabeth could not receive the medical care she needed until several days later because of a Texas law that banned abortion after six weeks. Recently passed laws make abortion illegal after about six weeks into a pregnancy. She took a swipe of the new discharge, and placed the toilet paper in a Ziploc bag to carry with her. As Elizabeth recalled hearing, it was one particular doctor who had argued her case: "They found a doctor from East Texas who spoke up and was so patient forward, so patient advocating, that he said 'This is ridiculous.'". Took no time at all.. Because the state has made it very clear that if you talk about this, you're vulnerable to being sued," she added. But the patient was past six weeks gestation, and under the new law, an abortion was not an option in Texas because the woman was not immediately facing a life-threatening medical crisis or risk of permanent disability. But first, shes focused on her mental health and getting through the next few months. Immediately, they sensed hesitation from the doctor. The maternal fetal medicine specialist at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas published a blog post last August to inform patients that treatment for cesarean-scar ectopic pregnancies is legal under Texas's abortion law. Greg Abbott signed a heartbeat bill into law in May, barring abortions in the state as early as six weeks. Hall was outraged about the world that her daughter was going to be born into, but she didnt worry too much about how this would affect her pregnancy. It doesnt take a huge leap to see that our rates of complications will go up because we have a selection bias on who is going to have to continue more complicated pregnancies.. Eventually, she found a clinic near Seattle that provides specialty care for patients who have decided to terminate due to lethal fetal abnormalities. Texas, the infection was getting worse danger, she said s life is in danger, she found clinic! 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