Eight women who were denied emergency abortion care while facing dangerous and life-threatening pregnancy complications have filed legal challenges in three states where abortion is effectively outlawed with only narrow medical exceptions, spreading widespread confusion among providers and hospitals fearing legal blowback or severe criminal penalties.
The challenges filed in Idaho, Oklahoma and Tennessee on 12 September have asked courts to clarify those medical exceptions after plaintiffs were turned away from urgently needed healthcare in their home states, forcing them to continue carrying their pregnancies knowing the fetus would not survive.
