Leitaea Lowrimore had hallmark symptoms of a dangerous ectopic pregnancy in February: vaginal bleeding, sharp pain, low hormone levels and no visible embryo on a uterine ultrasound. The 28-year-old mother and former nursing assistant was stunned when an Arkansas emergency room doctor said he wanted to discharge her, as ectopic pregnancies – or when an embryo implants somewhere other than the uterine lining – are never viable and can be life-threatening.
She and her husband refused because they lived 45 minutes away in rural Oklahoma. The doctor agreed to admit her for monitoring, eventually saying that her pregnancy was probably ectopic, but if he treated her now, “he could do 10 years in prison”, Lowrimore said. This doctor was far from the only one to deny Lowrimore medical care: over the course of a week, a total of three emergency rooms in two states – Arkansas and Oklahoma, which also bans abortion – either denied her screenings or discharged her.
