In a preview of what’s to come in half the country, a near-total ban has led some providers to deny care until mothers’ health deteriorated
’s exception for “medical emergencies” is not well-defined, leaving hospitals and clinicians often erring on the side of caution, and it is unclear whether the HHS rule will change that. The law empowers anyone to sue a provider or someone who “aids or abets” an illegal abortion for damages of at least $10,000, creating a “chilling effect” on health care professionals.
“Even if the guidance is pretty clear, I think some doctors in these situations will still find it a really challenging decision to make,” said Mary Ziegler, a professor at the University of California, Davis who specializes in the legal history of reproductive health. “They may continue to be uncomfortable – especially considering some of the harsh penalties in state abortion laws, including life in prison.
One ob-gyn recalled only a single patient who was able to obtain an abortion at their hospital under the law’s exemption, after her severe cardiac condition had worsened to the point that she was admitted to the intensive care unit. In “multiple cases”, treating physicians sent patients home, only to see them return with signs of sepsis, the paper notes.
“Some doctors are no longer offering termination when there is risk of death for the pregnant patient,” Dr Lorie Harper, chief of maternal-fetal medicine at the University of Texas at Austin Dell Medical School, said. “They are waiting until heart failure, waiting until hemorrhaging, waiting until a patient needs to be intubated, or is [having organ failure].
The researchers worry about a rise in cases of maternal mortality as a result of pregnant people being denied care. Texas already holds a maternal death rate
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