They gave her a bucket and some towels
A hospital is being sued by the state because they refused to provide emergency abortion care to a woman experiencing a miscarriage.
She was 15 weeks pregnant with twins. One had already died in utero. The other had “a detectable heartbeat” according to hospital staff.
They gave her a choice:
Spend tens of thousands of dollars (not covered by insurance) on a medivac helicopter ride to another hospital or…
Take a bucket and some towels “in case anything happened” on the 80-mile drive to the nearest hospital willing to treat her. By the time she reached the operating room at the other hospital she was actively hemorrhaging and at the edge of life. Imagine if there was traffic or any sort of delay. We go to a hospital when we are most vulnerable. We expect help. We do not expect to be turned away by doctors who swore an oath to protect us.
This didn’t happen in a state with an abortion ban like Idaho. This happened in California – where abortion rights are fiercely protected under state law.
The reality is that the attacks on healthcare aren’t limited to states with bans. It’s happening everywhere because Republican lawmakers have empowered EVERYONE who wants to control women’s bodies, women’s choices and women’s lives.
Women are dying in this country due to these restrictions, as we saw in Georgia with Amber Thurman. A 6-year-old lost his mother because she was denied care.
Georgia’s extreme abortion ban is being challenged in the courts, with one judge ruling that forcing a woman to remain pregnant amounts to slave labor. In Texas, the Biden DOJ sued to compel the state to allow life-saving emergency abortions at the doctor’s discretion. SCOTUS just shot the case down.
We’re seeing a huge increase in maternal mortality rates across the country. In Texas alone maternal mortality shot up 56% after the fall of Roe.
Here in Idaho, our state shut down maternal mortality review boards altogether – only to be forced to reinstate them this year.
At the same time, access to prenatal care is decreasing. OB-GYNs are fleeing multiple states and delivery rooms across the country are shutting down. Idaho is not immune. We have seen multiple labor and delivery rooms shutter. We have seen about 1 in 5 of our skilled doctors leaving the state. More women are choosing permanent sterilization out of fear of being denied critical care during pregnancy complications.
All of these are the reasons we MUST address the abortion issue at the federal level. We can’t leave it up to a patchwork of state laws, the opinions of legislatures, or the whims of hospitals.
As far as I’m concerned, the blood of every woman who has died after being denied care is on the hands of every politician who has worked to strip away these fundamental rights.
David Roth is the precinct captain for Precinct 10 and a member of the Bonneville County Democratic Central Committee. He is also Idaho’s Democratic National Committeeman.