Blood Transfusions for Texas Miscarriages Increased by Over 50%

7.2.25

Click to skip ahead: Care Crisis highlights the new ProPublica report showing a surge in blood transfusions for miscarriage patients in Texas. Cruel Curricula looks at the extremist group writing mandatory training for doctors in some anti-abortion states. Let’s Go, Wisconsin has great news from the state Supreme Court. Extremism Watch reports on a new ‘equal protection’ bill in Michigan. In the States has news from Wyoming, Nebraska, and Tennessee. In the Nation has more on the ‘big beautiful bill’ and Republican strategy. And AED News shares where you can get Kylie’s book and a brand new AED shirt!

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Care Crisis

It’s hard to think of a publication doing better abortion rights reporting than ProPublica—and yesterday’s story is no exception. A data analysis from the publication found that after Texas passed an abortion ban, the number of blood transfusions for miscarriages increased by 54%. Fifty-four percent.

What they found mirrors the anecdotal stories we’ve heard from anti-abortion states around the country: terrified of prosecution and legal liability under bans, hospitals are delaying treating miscarriage patients with D&Cs. This can lead to dangerous hemorrhaging; ProPublica actually reported on a woman who died this way, Porsha Ngumezi.

I really urge you to read the whole piece, and to remember that anti-abortion activists knew this would happen. More than that, this is what they wanted: doctors delaying care and giving women blood transfusions rather than abortions.

That’s not hyperbole. In 2023, I wrote a piece for The New York Times warning that anti-abortion activists and legislators were trying to redefine medical language and the standard of care so that women’s lives would be secondary to their pregnancies. Specifically, I flagged how legislators were taking direction from radical anti-abortion groups like the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists (AAPLOG).

AAPLOG is dedicated to codifying their made-up ‘medical’ terminology (like ‘maternal fetal separation’) and offering “life-affirming” guidance to doctors. In one such bit of guidance, they say patients with massive placental abruptions shouldn’t be given D&Cs—but instead made to labor for up to 24 hours, and given blood transfusions in the ICU.

So when I say Texas’ blood transfusion increase is what they wanted, I mean that literally.

(This is a good time to remind folks that blood transfusions aren’t the only thing that surged since Texas passed its ban: Sepsis among second trimester miscarriage patients rose by more than 50% and maternal deaths increased by 56%.)

Cruel Curricula

Unfortunately, we’re not done talking about AAPLOG. This group is on the precipice of becoming even more influential than they already are, and it’s all thanks to Med Ed bills.

Med Ed laws—like the one just passed in Texas—require doctors to take classes about the state’s abortion ban, supposedly to teach them when they can legally provide life-saving care. Republicans claim this will help doctors avoid prosecution and save women’s lives. In reality, the goal is to let anti-abortion groups dictate when and how doctors can treat their patients.

I bet you can guess which anti-abortion group I’m talking about! When South Dakota passed a ‘Med Ed’ law, the state health department called on AAPLOG to craft their educational materials.

Really take in what that means: an organization that doesn’t even believe in life-saving abortions is literally teaching doctors when they’re ‘allowed’ to life-saving abortions.

Of course, the point isn’t to help doctors provide care. It’s to teach them not to provide abortions. Instead, AAPLOG wants women with life-threatening pregnancies to undergo c-sections—even when there’s no chance for fetal survival. (That’s why they’ll never call it a life-saving abortion. They call it “care,” “treatment,” or “separation.”)

And this isn’t limited to one or two states. Abortion, Every Day has learned that AAPLOG is launching a new curricula campaign aimed at state health departments, hospitals, and anyone else willing to take medical guidance from extremist maniacs.

I’ll have more on the curricula in the coming days, as I get a chance to dig in. But truly, given how they’re trying to rewrite the standard of care—I’d argue AAPLOG is one of the most dangerous anti-abortion groups operating today.

To learn more about Med Ed bills, read Abortion, Every Day’s explainer:

The GOP's Latest Weapon: 'Med Ed' Bills

Let’s Go, Wisconsin!

We could all use some good news—and today, Wisconsin delivered: the state Supreme Court struck down an 1849 law that Republicans said banned abortion. The ruling comes after Wisconsin voters elected two pro-choice justices in the last two years—shifting the court to a liberal majority and sending a clear message on abortion rights.

If you need a refresher, here’s the short version: After Roe was overturned, Wisconsin revived this 1849 law as an abortion ban—preventing doctors from providing care. But in 2023, a judge ruled that the law isn’t actually an abortion ban—but “a feticide statute.” (Meaning it only applies to an attack on a pregnant person that ends their pregnancy, not abortion.)

That decision allowed clinics to reopen, but anti-abortion groups continued to insist the law stood as a total ban. Meanwhile, Wisconsin’s Democratic Attorney General Josh Kaul filed a suit over the law, arguing all the abortion restrictions enacted in the years since 1849 trumped the old law.

Today, the majority of justices agreed. I also appreciated this clear-eyed bit from the ruling (flagged by writer Mark Joseph Stern on Bluesky) that calls the ban as Republicans want it a “world gone mad”:

Consider this yet another reminder that elections matter.

Before you go, a not-so-fun fact: Before Justice Susan Crawford was elected to the bench, her Republican opponent Brad Schimel claimed that the female justices were too “emotional” to rule on abortion. Seriously, when reacting to oral arguments in the abortion case, Schimel said that the women were on “on the brink of losing it,” and that you “could hear it in the tone of their voice.” I’m curious about how ‘emotional’ Schimel got when he lost. :)

Extremism Watch

How many different ways can Republicans tell us that they absolutely plan on arresting abortion patients?

The Michigan Advance reports that state Rep. Josh Schriver has introduced legislation that would punish abortion patients as murderers. HB 4671, which would codify fetal personhood, is similar to the ‘equal protection’ bills we’ve seen introduced in more than a dozen states across the country.

Now, obviously this legislation isn’t going anywhere in Michigan. Schriver doesn’t have the votes, and abortion rights are protected in the state constitution. But as I’ve pointed out again and again, these bills are gaining support (and cosponsors) by the day. And I’m sick of Republicans saying these are fringe efforts with no future while they gain ground right in front of our faces.

I outlined the rise of abortion ‘abolitionists’—the radical activists behind ‘equal protection’ legislation—just a few weeks ago, if you’d like a reminder.

In the States

Some good news out of Wyoming: abortion rights advocates have been trying to stop a newly-passed law that singles out healthcare providers who prescribe abortion medication off-label.

The law says that doctors can prescribe FDA-approved medications for off-label uses without punishment from state licensing boards—unless it’s abortion medication. Basically, Republicans were trying to find a roundabout way to allow for the punishment of abortion providers, even though the courts keep ruling that abortion is protected in Wyoming.

Those protections held up this week, when a judge blocked the state from enforcing that new law. District Judge Thomas T.C. Campbell ruled that the law would indirectly ban abortion medication by putting providers in danger of disciplinary action.

In less terrific news from the state, Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon just named former state Supreme Court justice Keith Kautz as the state’s attorney general. Kautz is an anti-abortion extremist: in April, WyoFile reports, he held a “pray in” ahead of a hearing on the state’s abortion ban.

During his remarks, he said, “We are becoming enslaved to unthinkable corruption and immorality and we deserve the consequences of our actions.”

So yeah, he sounds terrifying! Especially because as Wyoming AG, Kautz will have a whole lot of power over abortion rights—and just how much state energy and money will go towards criminalizing it.

One of the biggest takeaways from the last three years without Roe is that bans simply don’t work: the abortion rate has only gone up. That’s not just true nationally, but in Nebraska, specifically—where abortions went up by 7% after the state passed its 12-week ban.

Anti-abortion activists in the state point to Iowa’s abortion ban, and say that patients from the state traveled to more ‘liberal’ Nebraska for care. Whatever the reason, I’m glad at least some patients are getting the care that they need. But consider this just another reminder that bans don’t broadly stop abortions, they just increase suffering.

Finally, Tennessee is trying to get a suit against the state ban dismissed by claiming Republicans passed an ‘exception’ to the law that made it all better. I wish I was joking.

The Tennessee Lookout reports that the state’s assistant solicitor general, Jenna Adamson, told a three-judge panel this week that the new so-called exception “made significant changes” to the ban so the lawsuit is now moot.

Give me a fucking break. The ‘exception’ Republicans passed is nothing of the sort and barely changes the law. And that’s exactly what the Center for Reproductive Rights argued: that doctors still have to fear prison time and losing their licenses when providing basic healthcare.

In the Nation

I know we’re all thinking about the nightmare budget bill that passed the Senate—and what it means for the most vulnerable Americans. (The Atlantic calls it the anti-abortion movement’s biggest victory since Dobbs.)

Kylie did an excellent breakdown this afternoon of what the ‘big beautiful bill’ really means for abortion rights: namely, that it’s an informal national abortion ban. If you missed her email earlier today, make sure to read the piece below:

Senate Republicans’ ‘Big, Beautiful’ Backdoor Ban

Something else that’s been on my mind about this bill: Obviously, the anti-abortion movement and Republicans have been after Planned Parenthood forever.But now they have a new reason to go after the country’s largest reproductive health care provider—because their abortion bans are failing spectacularly.

Remember, their laws haven’t reduced the number of abortions. They also haven’t won over American voters, despite tremendous (and expensive) cultural campaigns. They’re passing bans, sure, but they’re not actually winning.

If they can take down Planned Parenthood—or at least claim credit for it—they can hold that up as proof of their supposed success.

“Meanwhile, politicians, mostly white, mostly male continue to play God with our lives. They are not doctors. They are not ethicists. They are not the people bearing the risks, the trauma, or the responsibility of pregnancy. And yet they are the ones deciding who deserves health care and who doesn’t.”

- Sylvia Ghazarian, executive director, Women’s Reproductive Rights Assistance Project (WRRAP)

AED News

A few housekeeping notes. First, did you know that Abortion, Every Day reporter Kylie Cheung has a book coming out soon? You can (and should!!) pre-order Coercion: Surviving and Resisting Abortion Bans here.

Kylie will also be doing some book events this summer—including one where I’ll join her. So keep an eye out, because I’ll share more info on those dates soon.

Finally, if you haven’t gotten any Abortion, Every Day merch yet, you should check out the store here. Especially because our incredible designer Rani Vestal helped us out with a July 4 special: