Today in Texas, two women filed federal complaints after hospitals denied them emergency abortion care

In response to new reporting that women across the country are being denied emergency abortion care amid reports that two Texas women filed complaints about hospitals that denied them emergency abortion care, DNC spokesperson Stephanie Justice released the following statement: 

“Thanks to Donald Trump, women who are living under abortion bans – which Trump paved the way for and supports – are being turned away from emergency rooms, in many cases leaving their health permanently damaged or forcing them into dangerous and even life-threatening situations because they couldn’t get the care they needed. This is Trump and JD Vance’s dark vision for America: one where women don’t have the right to make decisions about their own bodies and have to live under MAGA Republicans’ thumbs. Trump boasts about overturning Roe v. Wade and continues to leave the door open to restricting abortion access nationwide if he becomes president. We can’t allow him back in the White House to implement his Project 2025 agenda that will leave women to die. Vice President Kamala Harris and Gov. Tim Walz are the only candidates in this race who will fight to restore women’s rights and stop Trump and MAGA Republicans’ plans to rip away reproductive freedom completely. Everything is on the line in November.”

NEW: Over 100 pregnant women across the United States have been denied emergency abortion care or were negligently treated – with one woman even being told to “let nature take its course” while being denied treatment for her ectopic pregnancy.

Associated Press: “Bleeding and in pain, Kyleigh Thurman didn’t know her doomed pregnancy could kill her.

“Emergency room doctors at Ascension Seton Williamson in Texas handed her a pamphlet on miscarriage and told her to “let nature take its course” before discharging her without treatment for her ectopic pregnancy.

“When the 25-year-old returned three days later, still bleeding, doctors finally agreed to give her an injection to end the pregnancy. It was too late. The fertilized egg growing on Thurman’s fallopian tube ruptured it, destroying part of her reproductive system…

“More than 100 pregnant women in medical distress who sought help from emergency rooms were turned away or negligently treated since 2022, an Associated Press analysis of federal hospital investigations has found.

“Two women – one in Florida and one in Texas – were left to miscarry in public restrooms. In Arkansas, a woman went into septic shock and her fetus died after an emergency room sent her home. At least four other women with ectopic pregnancies had trouble getting any treatment, including one California woman who needed a blood transfusion after she sat for nine hours in an emergency waiting room.”

Because of Trump’s handpicked Supreme Court justices who overturned Roe v. Wade, extreme abortion bans have forced women to be airlifted across state lines while in dire need of emergency care. 

NBC News: “Since January, Dr. Stacy Seyb, a maternal-fetal medicine specialist in Boise, Idaho, has had at least four of his patients wheeled onto emergency flights and airlifted out of the state while experiencing severe pregnancy complications. 

“One of them was a woman whose water broke around 20 weeks into her pregnancy, putting her at risk of infection. In these types of emergencies, ending the patient’s pregnancy can be part of the standard of care. But doctors at the hospital where Seyb works say they have been forced to transfer patients who have these complications out of state to comply with the state’s abortion ban.

“‘This has become the new normal, which is sad,’ he said…

“Out-of-state medical transfers can delay needed care and carry immense financial and emotional costs for pregnant patients, who may wind up far from home during some of the most difficult moments of their lives. The cost of the flights can exceed $10,000, and the transportation may also be considered out-of-network by insurance, increasing the share patients must shoulder themselves.”

NPR: “‘Is she sick enough? Is she bleeding enough? Is she septic enough for me to do this abortion and not risk going to jail and losing my license?’ Souza said doctors ask themselves, during a press call ahead of the Supreme Court hearing. ‘And when the guessing game gets too uncomfortable, we transfer the patients out at a very high cost to another state where the doctors are allowed to practice medicine.’”

Now, Trump has said he would “absolutely” direct the FDA to end medication abortion access if elected – which would put even more women in life-or-death situations.

Interviewer: “Would you direct your FDA, for example, to revoke access to mifepristone?” […]

Donald Trump: “You could do things that would be– will supplement, absolutely. Those things are pretty open.”

Trump’s running mate JD Vance said he would like abortion to be “illegal nationally” and opened the door to a ban to stop women from traveling out of state to access reproductive health care. 

CNN: “JD Vance said in 2022 he ‘would like abortion to be illegal nationally’”

“‘I certainly would like abortion to be illegal nationally,’ Vance said in January 2022 on a podcast when running for Senate.

“During a podcast interview in January 2022, then-candidate JD Vance said he ‘certainly would like abortion to be illegal nationally’ and was ‘sympathetic’ to the view that a national ban was necessary to stop women from traveling across states to obtain an abortion…

“Vance once supported a ‘national minimum standard’ for abortion restrictions and signaled support for a 15-week federal abortion ban to CNN before determining there was no appetite for it in the current climate.

“Yet in January 2022, Vance argued that while lawmakers couldn’t ban abortion in the current climate, he was sympathetic to the view that a national ban was necessary.”

Trump’s unique role in overturning Roe v. Wade has led to countless horrifying stories of women being blocked from accessing reproductive care, and even women’s lives being put at risk because of dangerous, anti-abortion legislation. 

CNN: “Texas woman almost dies because she couldn’t get an abortion” 

ABC News: “Delayed and denied: Women pushed to death’s door for abortion care in post-Roe America” 

CNN: “Because of Florida abortion laws, she carried her baby to term knowing he would die”

The Guardian: “‘They forced me to carry my baby to the end’: women of color on being denied abortion post-Roe” 

Mississippi Free Press: “Teen Mississippi Rape Victim Forced to Travel 500 Miles For Abortion, Report Says” 

Washington Post: “An ectopic pregnancy put her life at risk. A Texas hospital refused to treat her.” 

ABC News: “North Dakota court keeps strict abortion ban in place even in cases of medical emergencies”

HuffPost: “Managing your own abortion is not a crime in Ohio, but a politically motivated prosecutor might believe Julia should be punished for what she did.”

Washington Post: “1 in 3 American women have already lost abortion access. More restrictive laws are coming.”