Texas Woman’s Life Put at Risk When Docs Refused to Treat Ectopic Pregnancy
LIFE AND DEATH
A 25-year-old Texas woman was put in grave danger when doctors refused to treat her ectopic pregnancy, a harrowing example of the life-and-death stakes in the post-Roe world. Kelsi Norris-De La Cruz was excited to carry her first child, but learned that she likely had an ectopic pregnancy, meaning her pregnancy was inviable and she could be at risk of death if her fallopian tube ruptured. Norris-De La Cruz needed emergency surgery to terminate the ectopic pregnancy, which is protected under Texas’ near-total abortion ban, but she says multiple physicians at Texas Health Arlington Memorial Hospital refused to treat her, telling her the pregnancy could be viable and sending her home to wait. One of them wouldn’t answer when the young woman’s mother directly asked him if this had to do with the state’s restrictive abortion law. Norris-De La Cruz was ultimately treated by another doctor—after the pregnancy had already started to rupture—who was shocked that she had been turned away the first time. A spokesperson for Texas Health said: “Treatment decisions are individualized based on a patient’s clinical condition and we believe the care provided to the patient in this case was appropriate.”