Will SCOTUS Allow Pregnant Women to Die?

6/24/2024
by CARRIE N. BAKER, Ms. Magazine

A decision from the U.S. Supreme Court will be coming any day now in two cases, Idaho v. United States and Moyle v. United States, about whether states can prohibit doctors from treating women with life-threatening pregnancies until a patient’s condition deteriorates to the point where they are about to die.

The National Women’s Law Center (NWLC) filed an amicus brief in these cases describing several of the more than 70 documented cases of women almost dying—and at least one who did die—when they were denied emergency medical care because of abortion bans enacted across the country after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June 2022. And “the true number of cases is likely significantly higher,” according the NWLC brief.

Continued: https://msmagazine.com/2024/06/24/emtala-supreme-court-women-die-abortion-bans-pregnant/

‘I wasn’t allowed to get the healthcare I needed’: the women suing Tennessee for being denied abortions

K Monica Kelly had to travel to Florida for an abortion after her fetus was diagnosed with trisomy 13 – now she’s part of a group suing her state

by Carter Sherman
Feb 1, 2024

When K Monica Kelly saw that women in Texas had filed a lawsuit challenging the contours of their state’s abortion ban, she posted on Instagram to cheer them on.

“I shared how terrible I thought it was, that they weren’t able to get the proper healthcare they needed in their state,” Kelly said. “It never crossed my mind that that was actually going to happen to me soon.”

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/feb/01/abortion-ban-tennessee-texas-lawsuits

01.02.2024

Commentary

Allie Phillips

Center for Reproductive Rights

Meet 18 women who shared heartbreaking pregnancy journeys in post-Roe world

On the Brink: Women detail impact of abortion restrictions on their health care.

By Nadine El-Bawab, Tess Scott, Christina Ng, and Acacia Nunes
December 16, 2023

…In a monthslong investigation, 18 women from across 10 states shared their deeply personal stories, chronicling their heartbreaking journeys and how, in some cases, they were brought to the brink of death because they couldn't access timely care in their home states.

The women appeared in a companion broadcast, "Impact by Nightline: On the Brink," with exclusive interviews by Diane Sawyer and Rachel Scott, which looks at the hidden health care crisis playing out in clinics and exam rooms across the country. So many families posing the question: is this what lawmakers intended? "On the Brink" premieres Dec. 14 on Hulu.

These are their stories.

Continued: https://abcnews.go.com/US/meet-18-women-shared-heartbreaking-pregnancy-journeys-post/story?id=105563366

Kate Cox case reveals toll of US abortion bans on women in medical emergencies

Lawsuits from women denied the procedure despite health risks shows how bans don’t allow for complexities of pregnancy

Carter Sherman
Sat 16 Dec 2023

When Kate Cox got the news that her baby would probably only live for a few days, she went online to figure out her options. A 31-year-old mother of two living in Texas, Cox could not get an abortion, but she also knew that she did not want to make her baby suffer.

That’s when Cox came across the news that 20 Texas women had come forward to tell a court that they, like her, had been unable to get abortions in medical emergencies. Within days, Cox went public too: she became the first woman since the fall of Roe v Wade to sue for an abortion while actively pregnant.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/dec/16/abortion-ban-lawsuits-pregnancy-complication-emergency-kate-cox

Part 2 – Delayed and denied: Women pushed to death’s door for abortion care in post-Roe America

Eighteen women told ABC News their heartbreaking stories of pregnancy and loss.

By Nadine El-Bawab, Tess Scott, Christina Ng, and Acacia Nunes
December 14, 2023

Blair Nelson and her husband started trying to conceive in 2018 right after they got married. When the Austin, Texas, couple was not getting pregnant as quickly as they wanted, Nelson switched to an OB-GYN that a friend had recommended.

"We found out pretty much immediately that things were going to be hard for us for a multitude of reasons, and he sent me straight to an IVF clinic," Nelson said in an interview with ABC News.

Continued: https://abcnews.go.com/US/delayed-denied-women-pushed-deaths-door-abortion-care/story?id=105563255

14.12.2023

Tennessee woman runs for office after state’s abortion ban puts her life at risk

BY CRISTINA CORUJO, CBS News
NOVEMBER 13, 2023

Last week's election results in Ohio and Virginia showed abortion rights remain a powerful issue on the ballot, suggesting women rights are likely to continue to be a key topic for voters in many states. In Tennessee, terminating a pregnancy even if the mother's life is at risk is prohibited, and this has affected women like Allie Phillips, who is now running for state office in Tennessee as a result of her experience.

Phillips, a Tennessee native, never imagined she would run for elected office. She also never thought she'd be forced to leave her home state to obtain an abortion to end a pregnancy that was risking her life.

Continued: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/tennessee-woman-house-of-delegates-bid-abortion-ban-put-life-at-risk/

13.11.2023

News

Allie Phillips

Center for Reproductive Rights

She Sued Tennessee for Denying Her an Abortion. Now She’s Running for Office.

BY CHARLOTTE ALTER
OCTOBER 12, 2023

Allie Phillips never wanted to be a politician, but she had always wanted to be a mom of two. Whenever Phillips asked her 5-year-old daughter, Adalie, what she wanted to be when she grew up, Adalie would say, "A big sister." So when Phillips found out she was pregnant again in Nov. 2022, Adalie was thrilled. "Her eyes got big and her jaw just dropped open," Phillips recalled. "Every night after that, she sang Twinkle Twinkle, Little Star to my belly. She’d kiss my belly every night before bed." Phillips and her husband planned to name the new baby Miley Rose.

But at a routine anatomy scan when she was around 19 weeks pregnant, doctors told Phillips that the fetus had significant problems with its kidney, stomach, bladder, heart, lungs, and brain. These conditions were "not compatible with life outside the womb," a doctor told Phillips. Miley Rose would likely die before birth, and the longer Phillips stayed pregnant, the worse her own health could become. These conditions were "not compatible with life outside the womb," a doctor told Phillips. Miley Rose would likely die before birth, and the longer Phillips stayed pregnant, the worse her own health could become.

Continued: https://time.com/6320148/allie-phillips-abortion-lawsuit-tennessee/

How close to death must a woman be to get an abortion in Tennessee?

The strictest abortion law in the US doesn’t allow exceptions for medical emergencies – and efforts to change it face powerful opposition from the right

Stephanie Kirchgaessner
Mon 20 Mar 2023

Months after the implementation of the most stringent abortion ban in the country, conservative lawmakers in Tennessee have publicly acknowledged that the state’s ban poses grave risks to the lives of women.

Now a political debate over how to change the law is centered on questions that would have been considered unthinkable before last June’s reversal of Roe v Wade: like how close to death a woman must be before a doctor may legally treat her if it means terminating her pregnancy, and whether women should be forced to carry embryos with fatal anomalies to term.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/mar/20/tennessee-abortion-ban-strictist-in-us