Texas women refused abortions for life-threatening ectopic pregnancies demand probe into hospitals

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Two women are demanding that the federal government investigate two Texas hospitals after they were refused abortions despite “life-threatening” pregnancies, which potentially damaged their fertility.

Kyleigh Thurman, from Burnet County, and Kelsie Norris-De La Cruz, from Dallas, both experienced tubal ectopic pregnancies, meaning a fertilized egg implanted in a fallopian tube instead of the uterus. Ectopic pregnancy is never viable and can result in a ruptured fallopian tube which can kill the mother. Termination is necessary with an ecotopic pregnancy.

But Ascension Seton Williamson Hospital in Round Rock refused to treat Thurman, ultimately leading her to lose a fallopian tube.

Thurman didn’t know she was pregnant when she began experiencing intermittent cramping, dizziness and bleeding continuously for nearly a month in early 2023, according to the administrative complaint.

Her OBGYN believed that she was having an ectopic pregnancy. But because the medical office was fully booked that day, the doctor advised her to go to the emergency room, and get an injection of methotrexate to terminate the pregnancy, her first.

Thurman went to the ER in her hometown twice in two days and was discharged both times. In the meantime, her OBGYN confirmed that her pregnancy was ectopic, through a review of Thurman’s blood tests, and told her to go to a larger hospital where methotrexate would likely be available.

Thurman drove an hour to Ascension Seton Williamson, and on February 21, her OBGYN called the on-call physician, advising that the patient “needed methotrexate immediately” for an ectopic pregnancy. But hospital staff denied her treatment, the filing states.

Her vaginal bleeding continued for a few more days. Thurman returned to Ascension, and was again denied treatment. Her OBGYN even went to the hospital and “plead[ed] with the medical staff to give her methotrexate”, the filing states.

By this time, her ectopic pregnancy was rupturing. Days later, Thurman suffered “sudden, blinding pain on her right side” and was told she was bleeding out. She had her right fallopian tube removed to “save her life,” the filing says.

“The removal of the fallopian tube that was necessitated by the delay in treatment likely will impact her ability to have a child in the future.”

Waiting longer could have cost Thurman her life, the complaint states.

In an email, a spokesperson for Ascension told The Independent: “While we cannot speak to specifics of this case, Ascension is committed to providing high-quality care to all who seek our services.”

Texas Health Arlington Memorial Hospital also denied treatment for an ectopic pregnancy to Norris-De La Cruz.

The 25-year-old had already had two miscarriages when she found out she was pregnant again in January, during her last year of college.

She recognized that her symptoms were “concerning” - cramping, vaginal bleeding and blood clots, the filing states.

Norris-De La Cruz went to the ER at Texas Health Arlington on February 12, where she was told she had an ectopic pregnancy, and opted for surgery to terminate the pregnancy.

However, the on-call OBYGN refused to provide the “devastated” patient with any treatment, the filing states. Despite two hospital OBGYNs at Texas Health telling her there was a chance of rupture, she was told to return 48 hours later for another blood test.

Norris-De La Cruz decided to wait for another few hours for the hospital shift to rotate for the next on-call OBGYN.

As they waited, the initial ER doctor wrote in her file: “I do not feel comfortable discharging her home and do not think that is in her best interest.” Yet a second on-call OBGYN denied her treatment again.

Norris-De La Cruz wound up in emergency surgery the following day, after her friend was able to get her an appointment with her OBGYN. At the time of the surgery “her pregnancy was near rupture”, the complaint states.

She lost most of her right fallopian tube and 75 percent of her right ovary was removed, “necessitated by the delay in treatment”.

This “likely will impact her ability to have a child in the future” but also could have could cost Norris-De La Cruz her life, the filing states.

The Independent has contacted Texas Health Arlington Memorial Hospital for comment.

Although Texas bans nearly all abortions, providing the medical procedure in cases of ectopic pregnancies is allowed under state law, according to the Center for Reproductive Rights (CRR) which filed the federal complaints on behalf of the two women.

However, because Texas doctors face “extreme threats of prosecution and penalties” — such as up to 99 years in prison, loss of medical license, and at least $100,000 in fines — they are “afraid” to provide any abortion care, CRR said.

In their complaints, the women say that the hospitals violated EMTALA, a federal law requiring doctors to stabilize or treat any patient who shows up at an emergency room.

Ectopic pregnancy is the leading cause of maternal mortality in the first trimester, accounting for 5-10 percent of all pregnancy-related deaths in the US, according to a 2023 study. In Texas, the leading cause of pregnancy-related death in 2022 was obstetric hemorrhage. The most common cause of hemorrhage was ruptured ectopic pregnancy, the Texas Maternal Mortality and Morbidity Review Committee reported.

The women are asking that agencies within the federal Department of Health and Human Services conduct an independent investigation into the two hospitals. They also asked for the government to take all necessary steps to remedy all unlawful conduct identified in its investigation, including by imposing all appropriate penalties and provide “other appropriate equitable relief.”

“I never imagined I would find myself in the crosshairs of my home state’s extreme abortion bans. For weeks, I was in and out of emergency rooms trying to get the abortion that I needed to save my future fertility and life. This should have been an open and shut case. Yet, I was left completely in the dark without any information or options for the care I deserved,” Thurman said in a statement.

Norris-De La Cruz also said: “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.

“The doctors knew I needed an abortion, but these bans are making it nearly impossible to get basic emergency healthcare.”

The federal complaints are the latest legal challenges to the state’s restrictive abortion law, which came into effect after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade in 2022.

In May, the Texas Supreme Court rejected a historic challenge to the state’s abortion ban from 22 women – some of whom nearly died during pregnancy – demanding clarity on the ban’s vague language around emergency medical exceptions. The court ruled that the state law was overly broad.