Restrictive and vague abortion laws in Texas caused one family to experience a “nightmare” as they were unable to get medical care during a miscarriage, they claim.
Ryan Hamilton, who lives in Texas, went viral on X this past week after sharing the terrifying situation his wife, Jess, experienced when she found out she had suffered an “incomplete miscarriage” with their second child.
The couple sought at least three different doctors at two hospitals in Texas to no avail while trying to obtain medical intervention for Jess who was experiencing severe pains and bleeding associated with the miscarriage, he wrote.
Multiple doctors refused to give Jess medication, refused to provide a dilation and curettage procedure and seemingly did not take her medical situation seriously – allowing her to sit in an emergency room for hours on end and eventually sent her home, he stated in the post.
“A new doctor was on call. He was an older man. You could hear him in the hallway as he said, ‘I’m not giving her a pill so she can go home and have an ab*rtion!’ Being well aware that our baby no longer had a heartbeat. Then, he came into the room to say, and I quote: ‘Considering the current stance. I’m not going to prescribe you this pill.’ Then, just sent us on our way,” the distraught dad wrote.
Mr Hamilton said he later found his wife “unconscious” on their bathroom floor having lost blood and bodily fluids throughout the multi-day situation.
“Now, not only do we have to live with the loss of our baby... we have to live with the nightmare of what we just experienced because of political and religious beliefs,” Mr Hamilton wrote in his post.
He added: “MY WIFE’S HEALTH SHOULD HAVE COME FIRST.”
In Texas, abortion is illegal after a fetal heartbeat is detected unless a “reasonable medical judgment” determines there is a greater risk of the pregnant person dying or impairment of a major bodily function. But the law stops short of defining “reasonable medical judgment” or “major bodily function.”
Additionally, anyone who performs an abortion without meeting those requirements can also be subject to criminal prosecution and loss of a medical license.
Mr Hamilton said the third time he and Jess went to a hospital he felt the staff’s primary concern was “worried about the legalities involved.”
He recounted how they admitted his wife, asked questions, did a scan to confirm the fetus was still inside with no heartbeat but then disappeared for hours, “Only to come back in and keep asking the same questions over and over.”
Even then, despite Jess’s condition and two failed attempts at taking medication to treat the miscarriage, the doctors could not, in good faith, determine she was eligible for a dilation and curettage procedure.
Stories similar to Ryan and Jess’s have been reported out of Texas and other states with strict anti-abortion laws that do not protect medical providers from criminal penalties.
Kate Cox, a woman in Texas who has used her experience to advocate for clearer and less restrictive abortion laws, similarly faced a dire medical situation when she found out her unborn child would likely not survive the pregnancy or birth.
Ms Cox was unable to obtain an abortion due to Texas’s laws. She is one of many people suing the state for using vague language in the law that caused them to be denied medically necessary abortions – which ultimately harmed them.
Ms Cox was also one of many who testified to the Texas Medical Board this week about the impacts of the law as the board looks to clarify some of the uncertain language.
