Whether you or your loved one gets the medical care they need isn’t a matter of luck or timing.
(J. Scott Applewhite | Associated Press) A look at the Supreme Court in Washington, D.C.
I remember leaving a meeting at work with bright red blood on my shoes. I had miscarried just before my ninth week of pregnancy. An ultrasound a week prior showed that the fetus was not developing normally so I knew something was wrong. I had no idea how quickly, if at all, I would recover from not being able to continue the pregnancy. I was shocked at how much bleeding I was losing and how quickly it happened once it started.
I left the meeting, got dressed, and went out to my car to call my midwife, who reassured me that what I was experiencing was normal and asked if I could take the rest of the day off and rest. I was incredibly lucky: I had quality health care and good insurance, a stable job that allowed me to take time off, and a family life that helped me care for my young child. Before I finished my conversation with my health care provider and headed home, I remember her instructions: “Go to the hospital if you develop a fever, severe cramps, a foul-smelling discharge, or deep body pains.” Luckily, I didn’t experience those symptoms or any other complications, and that pregnancy ended without the need for medical intervention.
If medical care was required for a miscarriage, the standard intervention would, by all definitions, be an abortion.
This experience struck me as I watched the U.S. Supreme Court hear Idaho’s challenge to EMTALA, a 40-year-old law that requires hospitals that accept Medicare funds (which are most major hospitals) to stabilize patients seeking emergency medical care, regardless of ability to pay, insurance status, race, creed, or national origin.
Idaho already has one of the cruellest and strictest abortion bans in the country. The situation is so bad that doctors are encouraging pregnant patients to buy emergency medical evacuation insurance (the same insurance extreme mountaineers use) in case they need to be airlifted out of state for medical treatment. Pregnant Idahoans are scared and confused, and have a hard time getting appointments. Boise Public Radio reported that 22% of Idaho obstetricians and gynecologists left the state last year. But that wasn’t enough. Idaho also questioned whether pregnant patients facing serious medical emergencies could rely on EMTALA to get the care they need, including abortions, in hospital emergency rooms.
Currently, these patients are fleeing to neighboring states, such as Utah, where abortion is legal up to 18 weeks, to seek treatment. But access to abortion in Utah is also at risk. If the Utah Supreme Court allows Utah’s near-total abortion ban to go into effect (as it could at any time), we will be in the same situation as Idaho, forcing thousands of Utah patients to travel farther to receive treatment and risk even more complications. When Utah politicians claim that their state’s ban is better than those of other states, remember that that is exactly what politicians in other states are telling their voters.
In fact, any abortion ban would make pregnancy and childbirth far more dangerous than it has always been, by reaching into the most private and personal decision of a person’s life. And if the U.S. Supreme Court were to agree that Idaho was putting pregnant women’s safety at risk and rewrite EMTALA to allow emergency rooms across the country to refuse to provide life-saving care when people need it most, the situation could become even more dangerous for everyone.
This situation is shocking and very real. Abortion bans cause real harm. Horror stories from every state that has an abortion ban show that exceptions don’t work, people suffer, and regular health care becomes complicated and less accessible.
When I had a miscarriage, I was lucky to get the care I needed. My health care providers never said, “You need this care, but your state won’t allow it. Fly to another state.” Whether you or a loved one gets the medical care they need isn’t a matter of luck or timing. It’s something you and everyone deserves.
(Photo by Nicholas Stephens) Shireen Ghorbani
Shireen Ghorbani She is the Chief Corporate Affairs Officer for Planned Parenthood of Utah, a mother, and a former Salt Lake County Councilwoman.
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