The pregnancy made it impossible to remove the device, Dr. Thoppil said. But interpretation of the laws is still causing challenges to care. And surprisingly, both of their families sent money to help pay for the trip, despite their anti-abortion sentiments. Were going to take care of you, and youre going to be OK, Hall remembers. "It's just really unimaginable to be in a position of having to think: How close to death am I before somebody is going to take action and help me?". Cedar River offers specialty care for patients facing lethal fetal abnormalities like anencephaly. She knew the doctors at the practice were both proud members of the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists, but she waved it off. We both have good jobs, weve got a house and we were at a place where if it happens, it happens, she said. If I dont provide my patient the standard of care, which they are due, I could be sued.. You're not going to tell me that what I'm experiencing isn't real, again.". But she did not know who the biological father was. Laws modelled on Texas's S.B. ", Her waters had broken, launching her into what she calls a "dystopian nightmare" of "physical, emotional and mental anguish." Treatments for miscarriages and ectopic pregnancies are still legal under Texas abortion ban. "But I have certainly heard discussion among physicians that they're very hesitant to do any kind of intervention until they're absolutely certain that this is not possibly a viable pregnancy even though the amount of bleeding would warrant intervening because it's a threat to the mother's life.". Lauren Hall stands for a portrait on Sept. 10, 2022, in the room that she and her husband had prepared as a nursery. However, Mayo said that his reading of the law allows for the use of methotrexate to treat an ectopic pregnancy. "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.". "That's torture to have to carry a pregnancy which has such a low chance of survival," says Dr. Peaceman. An ectopic pregnancy is 100% fatal if . And that 'you can either stay here and wait to get sick where we can monitor you, or we discharge you and you monitor yourself. For Elizabeth, that tragic conversation was just "the beginning of the hell that was going to ensue" for the rest of the week. Recently passed laws make abortion illegal after about six weeks into a pregnancy. A wait for fetal death, or her own encroaching illness. And it's strong. I was so excited for this appointment because its so good to see her in there, she said. But Prager believes that the laws in Texas and perhaps elsewhere soon . At 18 weeks, the watery, protective cushion of amniotic fluid was gone. The Texas Tribune Festival is almost here! The holidays are going to be especially hard. Myth 5: Treatment for ectopic pregnancy is considered an abortion, and thus many women will likely die from lack of treatment in states where abortion is illegal. "And they decide to sue for malpractice," she said. Quite the opposite, many state laws explicitly exempt treatment of ectopic pregnancy from their definitions of abortion. "partial-birth" abortions, medical abortions, the stage of a pregnancy at which an abortion can be performed, and informed consent related to abortions. A fertilized egg can't survive an ectopic pregnancy and can result in life-threatening bleeding, according to the Mayo Clinic. The case spurred a movement that led to the overturning of Ireland's abortion ban in 2018. The patient lost liters of blood and had to be put on a breathing machine because of the 24-hour delay in care. Like other physicians, Dr. Palmer said she was uncertain whether counseling that patient about all of her options, including terminating the pregnancy outside Texas, would have been considered aiding and abetting., The law is murky, but heres the bottom line, she said. 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. Such a rupture can be life-threatening. "He and I kept telling each other 'What is the whole point of the Hippocratic oath to do no harm?'" Crawford, the OB/GYN and fertility clinic co-founder, said shes seen instances of pharmacies not wanting to fill prescriptions for certain medications that are related to abortions but being used for other treatments. There they found themselves pinned down, clinically and emotionally, victims of a collision between standard obstetrical practice and the rigid new demands of Texas law. "Ectopic pregnancy" means the implantation of a fertilized egg or embryo outside of the uterus. She was due just a few days before Christmas. ", And at this particular point in her life, pregnant for the first time at age 26, it was still somewhat abstract: "I had not been put in a position to where I had to weigh the real nuances that went into this situation. Idaho, Tennessee and Texas will implement abortion bans in 30 days, according to the text of the laws. At least several OB-GYNs in the Austin area received a letter from a pharmacy in late 2021 saying it would no longer fill the drug methotrexate in the case of ectopic pregnancy, citing the recent Texas laws, said Dr. Charlie Brown, an Austin-based obstetrician-gynecologist who provided a copy to KHN. Texas abortion laws make no exception for these cases, which are not as rare as people would like to imagine, said Dr. John Thoppil, an Austin OB-GYN and president of the Texas Association of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. Growing up outside Dallas, Hall often heard that abortion was murder and, perhaps worse, interfering with Gods plan. Elizabeth's experience amounts to a kind of medical trauma, which is layered on top of the grief of pregnancy loss, says Elaine Cavazos, a psychotherapist specializing in the perinatal period, and the chief clinical officer of Reproductive Psychiatry and Counseling in Austin. Right there in the office, James pulled out his cell phone, and started looking for flights to states with less restrictive abortion laws. The Texas abortion "trigger law" will be effective on August 25th, 2022. Sometimes patients don't realize that they have lost the pregnancy until they come in for a checkup and no cardiac activity can be detected, said Dr. Emily Briggs, a family physician who delivers babies in New Braunfels, Texas. Treatments for certain pregnancy complications are distinct from abortions under Texas laws, experts say, but confusion has already limited some patients access to life-saving procedures and medicines. "Being pregnant in a state like Texas is a dangerous . What youre really worried about is that period of time when whats going to be a miscarriage, if you let it take a natural course, might cause severe suffering, and/or death to the mother, to the pregnant person, she said. Under Texas law, doctors can be sued by almost anyone for performing an abortion. The bill makes no exceptions for pregnancies that resulted from rape or incest. And they're telling me to think of the positives. But first, shes focused on her mental health and getting through the next few months. The Wellers were pleasantly surprised when they got pregnant early in 2022. "And if they didn't believe me, I was going to show it to them and say "Look! Greg Abbott said there were some things that we need to work on to ensure patients can get treatment for miscarriages and ectopic pregnancies. And she just recklessly and negligently goes out and gets abortions all willy-nilly, left and right," she says. Other times patients don't report the problem and miscarry on their own, she said, but without medication they risk additional bleeding. Since the Supreme Court ruling of June 24, 2022 that overturned Roe v. Wade, many states have banned abortion, or severely restricted abortion access. Consider the patient whose miscarriage care is delayed and develops a serious infection and other complications, Prager said. They had bought a house in Kingwood, a lakeside development in Houston. If she is developed enough to be menstruating and become pregnant, and reached sexual maturity, she can safely give birth to a baby, Dr. Skop said. 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. State House Bill 2709, filed Thursday, would penalize individuals for the use of medication to cause abortion in the state of Texas, whether the pills were acquired at a local pharmacy or . Many physicians disagree, pointing out that the law can disrupt care for pregnant women who have underlying health problems that are not immediately life-threatening, such as pulmonary hypertension or certain types of cancer. Elizabeth knows it was just a terrible coincidence, an awful bureaucratic oversight, and yet it drove home to her how powerless she was, how alone, in that vast medical system of rules, legal regulations and revenue. "I wouldn't say this is true for our practice," he said. It is a horrible gamble that we are making Texas women go through.". At that point, the patient can opt to wait until the bleeding starts and the pregnancy tissue is naturally released, Briggs said. Elizabeth and James Weller at their home in Houston two months after losing their baby girl due to a premature rupture of membranes. After talking with James, they both agreed they should end the pregnancy. 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. Its also had to heighten security since Roe was overturned, Sanchez said, the clinics have seen more and more aggressive protesters, including people from out-of-state like those Hall faced. Just a few months before the Texas legislature passed the new law, Dr. Robert Gunby Jr., an obstetrician in Dallas, was caring for a pregnant newlywed who suddenly started losing weight. 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