Texas laws say treatments for miscarriages, ectopic pregnancies remain legal but leave lots of space for confusion hppr.org - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from hppr.org Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Treatments for miscarriages and ectopic pregnancies are still legal under the state’s abortion ban, according to state law and legal experts. But the statutes don’t account for complicated miscarriages, and confusion has led some providers to delay or deny care for patients in Texas. Texas laws banning abortions make narrow exceptions only to save the life of a pregnant patient or prevent “substantial impairment of major bodily function.” And lawmakers in recent years have clarified state statutes to say treatments for miscarriages, known as “spontaneous abortions” in medicine, and ectopic pregnancies, in which a fertilized egg grows outside of the uterus and becomes unviable, do not count as abortions.
Treatments for certain pregnancy complications are distinct from abortions under Texas laws, experts say, but confusion has already limited some patients’ access to life-saving procedures and medicines.
Doctors say Texas hospitals are putting pregnant patients at risk by denying them abortion access and care after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.
Medical professionals across the state have expressed confusion over what care they can provide amid Texas’ abortion ban, leading to some patients allegedly receiving delayed care or being turned away.