WASHINGTON — Two women have filed federal complaints against Texas hospitals that denied them abortions for potentially life-threatening pregnancies. It is the latest legal action that seeks to determine whether a federal law requiring hospitals to treat patients facing emergency medical conditions takes precedence over state abortion restrictions.

What You Need To Know

  • Texas women Kyleigh Thurman and Kelsie Norris-De La Cruz allege their doctors hesitated to provide abortions to end ectopic pregnancies, which is when a pregnancy occurs outside of the uterus, because of the state's abortion restrictions 

  • The women filed a complaint this week with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services seeking a federal investigation. It represents the latest legal action that seeks to determine whether a federal law requiring hospitals to treat patients facing emergency medical conditions takes precedence over state bans

  • Texas Republicans and other abortion rights opponents have said the state’s sole exception to save the life of the pregnancy patient covers ectopic pregnancies, but some abortion rights supporters and legal experts say the penalties for performing an abortion are so tough that doctors will be risk-averse

  • The U.S. Supreme Court earlier this year declined to resolve the issue, but it may have to revisit it eventually

“Hospitals have to do what they're supposed to do, which is provide emergency health care, even when that means abortion,” said Molly Duane, senior staff attorney at the Center for Reproductive Rights.  

Duane represents two Texas women, Kyleigh Thurman and Kelsie Norris-De La Cruz, who argue that is not what two Texas hospitals did. They allege their doctors hesitated to provide abortions to end ectopic pregnancies, which is when a pregnancy occurs outside of the uterus. The women said the delays led to life-threatening health complications and diminished fertility.

“I never imagined I would find myself in the crosshairs of my home state’s extreme abortion bans. For weeks, I was in and out of emergency rooms trying to get the abortion that I needed to save my future fertility and life. This should have been an open-and-shut case. Yet, I was left completely in the dark without any information or options for the care I deserved,” Thurman said in a statement.  

“Despite the fact that my life was clearly in danger, the hospital told me that they could not help me. I ended up losing half of my fertility, and if I was made to wait any longer, it’s very likely I would have died,” Norris-De La Cruz said in a statement.

The women filed a complaint this week with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services seeking a federal investigation. 

Spectrum News reached out to both of the hospitals named in the complaint. Officials with Ascension Seton Williamson Hospital said in a statement, "While we cannot speak to specifics of this case, Ascension is committed to providing high-quality care to all who seek our services."

Texas Health Arlington Memorial Hospital did not respond to Spectrum News’ request for comment. 

The complaint represents the latest in a legal saga over the Biden administration’s guidance allowing hospitals to provide life-saving care even if it may mean violating state abortion restrictions.

Other women who faced risky pregnancies have sued trying to get more clarity in state laws. Shortly after Texas’s six-week abortion restriction went into effect in 2021, Katilyn Kash of Austin had a fatal fetal diagnosis. Because her life was not immediately at risk, she did not qualify for the limited exception under the law to have an abortion in-state.

“This is incredibly personal to me, because women shouldn't be dying trying to raise our families,” Kash told Spectrum News.  

Texas Republicans and other abortion rights opponents have said the state’s sole exception to save the life of the pregnancy patient covers ectopic pregnancies.  

“Our laws allow physicians to perform life saving abortions as necessary to save a woman's life. There's no conflict there,” Amy O’Donnell, communications director for Texas Alliance for Life, told Spectrum News. 

But abortion rights supporters said the penalties on doctors are so tough, they will remain cautious. Some legal experts said a court decision or findings from a federal health officials investigation could provide that legal cover. 

“In Texas, because of the litigation that is the discussion in the press, the things that people have said on the legislative floor, it makes it a de facto total ban, even when there are exceptions, because doctors don't know and the legal departments of these hospitals are going to err on the side of being more conservative and being risk-averse,” said Carliss Chatman, an associate professor of law at Southern Methodist University.

The GOP-led State of Texas has already sued the Biden administration for the guidance it has provided hospitals. The U.S. Supreme Court earlier this year declined to resolve the issue, but it may have to revisit it. 

“It will ultimately be before the Supreme Court, but I think what makes this entire issue so difficult is it is really hard to define an emergency, and I think that's what the doctors are pushing, that's what the Center for Reproductive Rights are pushing. You know, an emergency for me is not an emergency for you,” Chatman said.  

Lawyers for the two Texas women who filed the federal complaint said they hope it leads to policy changes at these hospitals, in a state that has a near-total ban on abortions. 

“The State of Texas should agree with us. They have maintained all along that ectopic pregnancy is excluded from their law, and if that's their position, then I would hope that they agree with us that these hospitals should change their policies,” Duane said.