In a powerful new lawsuit, five women are suing the state of Texas after being denied an abortion despite facing life-threatening conditions — all because of a new state law passed after Supreme Court upside down Roe v. Wade last year.
In court documents filed in the state court there by Center for Reproductive Rights on behalf of five women and two doctors, obtained by NPRthey stated:
“[The women] have been denied necessary and life-saving obstetric care because medical professionals across the country fear liability under Texas’ abortion ban.
As we’ve seen, last summer, the federal constitutional right to abortion was gutted, allowing individual states to ban and restrict access to abortion on demand. Texas is one of thirteen states that outright bans abortion, although they claim that they expect to be able to seek medical care if there is a risk of harm. However, according to New York Times there, five women now claim they refused treatment because doctors were afraid of potential repercussions!
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According to the outlet, the women in the lawsuit come from diverse backgrounds with some married and already having children. The common denominator? They all made the difficult decision to end their pregnancy – because their lives depended on it! Unfortunately, the process is not easy because doctors not only do not perform the procedure, but also do not recommend treatment options or send medical records to other providers. This leaves patients with life-threatening bleeding and infections.
Take Amanda Zurawski, for example. She became pregnant in early 2022 after 18 months of IVF treatment. But at 17 weeks into her pregnancy, a scan discovered her cervical membrane had started to prolapse. Specialists said the fetus would not survive, but she was later told she was not “sick enough” to have an abortion. Her doctor insisted that she would not perform the procedure until she was “acutely ill” or that the unborn baby’s heartbeat had stopped.
Eventually, her water broke, but she didn’t give birth. Without the amniotic fluid, the fetus would have died 100%, but because it still had a heartbeat, he was sent home to wait. Desperate, she and her husband considered driving to Mexico, but were told to stay at the hospital for 20 minutes if she got sick. Amanda is also afraid of prosecution, so she stays. Unfortunately, his health quickly declined, but the doctors did not spare him until he was taken to the ER for a blood infection. He then developed a second infection and had to be given a blood transfusion! Yes! This experience will now haunt him for the rest of his life, he noted:
“Every ultrasound is going to be scary, not just scary, but traumatic.”
Due to a medical emergency, Amanda went septic twice and was left with one fallopian tube that was permanently closed. He continued:
“The last time I heard a heartbeat inside me, I wanted to stop.”
The 35-year-old hopes her story will help anti-abortionists change their minds about the new law, saying:
“You don’t think you’re the kind of person who would need an abortion, let alone an abortion to save my life. […] If anyone reads my story, I don’t care where they are on the political spectrum, very few people agree that there is anything pro-life about this.
Lauren Miller, another 35-year-old plaintiff, took a different route and decided to sneak out of the country to receive an abortion in Colorado on the recommendation of her doctor. She had been expecting twins when at 12 weeks she discovered that one of the fetuses had a genetic defect called Trisomy 18, which includes a deformed brain and an incomplete abdominal wall and heart. Specialists told her to get an abortion in another country as soon as possible to save her own life as well as that of her other children. He recalled:
“The feeling of packing is almost like we’re running away from Texas, which is really weird. […] I’m from Texas, I have Texas generations, here we run from Texas.
Such an appalling situation when the truth is just fighting for the right to life-saving medical intervention !!
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Anna Zargarian suffered premature rupture of membranes after her water broke at just 19 weeks. She had an abortion in Colorado after her doctor wouldn’t do it because the fetus was still beating. She was afraid of getting pregnant again in Texas because she was told that there was a risk of having the same pregnancy complications again. Ashley Brandt also faced complications with one fetus while she was expecting twins. She was able to get an elective abortion in Colorado but was then sent to the ER where she felt “discomfort and confusion” while facing other complications, the lawsuit notes:
“It appears that the medical staff thought they did not know about Ashley’s abortion or discuss it with her.”
This caused her to be “plagued by fear and stress” throughout her pregnancy until she finally gave birth to a healthy baby at 38 weeks. Finally, 28 years Lauren Hall was 18 weeks pregnant when she discovered the fetus had no skull and an underdeveloped brain. She was also pressured to get an abortion. She hopes her story will be an eye-opener for those who consider themselves “pro-life,” including many of her relatives and neighbors, who believe that if a fetus has a fatal condition, it’s a “loophole” for those seeking an abortion. . He explains:
“Many are in favor of this ban, but they don’t understand the extent of it. […] They have a narrow idea of what it looks like for someone who wants an abortion. They think that there are people who are loose, who don’t want birth control.
When anti-abortion groups have argued that restrictions on abortion should not harm women’s health and that the law only prevents what they consider “optional” abortions, the plaintiff calls this BS. While the lawsuit does not seek to overturn the abortion ban, it does ask Texas to confirm that the law allows doctors to provide abortions if necessary and “where the pregnancy would not result in the birth of a viable child.”
The suit names the Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton as a defendant together with the state medical board and its directors, including the executive director Stephen Brint Carlton. In the email to CBS News on Tuesday, a spokesman for Paxton said he is “committed to doing everything in his power to protect mothers, families, and unborn children, and he will continue to defend and enforce the laws passed by the Texas Legislature.” The woman is not suing the medical team that refused the procedure because she says she did the best she could under the circumstances. You can read more about the lawsuit here. You can also hear the women discuss the “catastrophic disaster” they face (below).
We commend them for speaking out on behalf of so many pregnant women and men in Texas and beyond! Mind? Let us know (below)!
[Image via Fox 7 Austin/YouTube]