Louisiana Docs Are Running Hemorrhaging Drills

9.17.24

Click to skip ahead: In Post-Dobbs Deaths, the country reacts to a Georgia woman’s story. In the States, more nightmare stories of care denied from Georgia, along with news from Missouri, North Carolina and Alaska. In Ballot Measure Updates, news from Florida and Missouri. And In the Nation, Republicans have once again stopped a bill that would have protected IVF.

---

Post-Dobbs Deaths

The reaction to the death of Amber Nicole Thurman in Georgia has been swift, with media coverage across the country and abroad, and abortion rights activists pointing out that what happened to Amber wasn’t just preventable, but predictable.

Mini Timmaraju, the president of Reproductive Freedom for All, said that Amber’s death offered “substantiated proof of something we already knew—that abortion bans kill people.” And Regina Davis Moss, the CEO of In Our Own Voice: National Black Women’s Reproductive Justice Agenda, said in a statement that “this is the “post-Dobbs reality for many Black women, girls, gender expansive people”.

Vice President Kamala Harris also spoke out about Amber’s death, placing the blame directly on Donald Trump:

"This young mother should be alive, raising her son, and pursuing her dream of attending nursing school. This is exactly what we feared when Roe was struck down. In more than 20 states, Trump Abortion Bans are preventing doctors from providing basic medical care. Women are bleeding out in parking lots, turned away from emergency rooms, losing their ability to ever have children again. Survivors of rape and incest are being told they cannot make decisions about what happens next to their bodies. And now women are dying. These are the consequences of Donald Trump’s actions.”

Reporters have reached out to Trump’s campaign, but so far they haven’t said anything. Here’s what they did do: A few hours after Amber’s death was reported, JD Vance gave a speech calling the end of Roe a victory. For whom? Certainly not for Amber.

The response from the anti-abortion movement more broadly, of course, has been entirely predictable. As Andrea González-Ramírez, wrote at The Cut, “you can see the spin on this case coming from a mile away.”

Anti-abortion activists claim that Amber didn’t die because she was denied vital care, but because she took abortion medication to begin with. (Which is not only false, but also shames and blames Amber for her own death.) Other conservative outlets have also blamed doctors and the Atlanta hospital that treated Amber, arguing that it’s legal to give women life-saving care. (While ignoring the fact that providers are operating under the threat of prison time.)

Once again, we knew this reaction was coming. In 2022, I wrote a column tracking how conservatives were already testing out talking points because they knew that abortion ban deaths were inevitable. Their primary message? Blame doctors.

Finally, I want to point out something really important. The reason Amber’s death is dominating the national conversation, as it should, is because ProPublica did not mince words about what happened to her: An abortion ban killed Amber, and that’s exactly what they wrote. That’s why people are sharing her story, why other media outlets have picked it up, and why politicians are reacting.

The truth is that Amber’s story is not the first reported post-Dobbs death—that was actually Yeniifer Alvarez-Estrada Glick, whose death was reported by The New Yorker. But instead of saying outright that Texas’ abortion ban killed Yeni, the publication framed their article as a question, asking, “Did An Abortion Ban Cost a Young Texas Woman Her Life?”

This is what I wrote at the time:

“I really do have empathy for mainstream publications. One of the challenges in reporting these stories is that abortion bans don’t exist in a vacuum: they’re part of a broader system that fails women in multiple ways. Whether it’s health care costs, racial and gendered bias, maternal health deserts or the proliferation of religiously-affiliated hospitals—there are an infinite number of dangerous combinations that can contribute to deaths like Yeni’s.

But nuance doesn’t erase the obvious truth: Abortion bans kill. We have to be willing to say it.”

So thank you to ProPublica for saying it. This the kind of clear-eyed reporting and publishing that the country needs.

In the States

Horrifically, on the same day that ProPublica reported Amber’s death in Georgia, Sen. Jon Ossoff was convening a subcommittee meeting in Atlanta about the impact of the state’s 6-week ban. OBGYN Carrie Cwiak testified about the nightmare of trying to provide patients care, telling legislators that “because of Georgia’s abortion ban, clinics and physicians have no choice but to turn away patients in need of essential health care.”

Two women who were denied abortion care, despite risks to their mental and physical health, also testified. Yasmein Ziyad spoke about miscarrying at 9 weeks, and her doctor denying her treatment because, he said, “I don’t want to lose my license or be arrested.” He sent Ziyad home, where she experienced massive and unnecessary pain for a week. By the time doctors finally agreed to give her care, Ziyad describes screaming and crying uncontrollably because of how bad the pain had become.

“I didn’t have to go through this. These laws created so much fear and confusion that I couldn’t get the care I needed, that would have spared me so much pain and suffering. As a result of what I went through, we have given up on trying to get pregnant.”

Then there’s Mackenzie Kulik, who started bleeding 17 weeks into her pregnancy and found out that she didn’t have enough amniotic fluid for the fetus to survive. But because of Georgia’s law, her doctors didn’t tell her just how serious the condition was. Instead, “the doctor’s advice to me was that I should stay on limited bedrest and drink as much water as possible.” And that’s what she did for three long weeks.

By twenty weeks into her pregnancy, Kulik’s amniotic fluid was basically nonexistent. It was only when she asked about termination that her doctor responded with the truth—the pregnancy was nonviable and if she didn’t have an abortion, her baby would die and Kulik herself would likely develop a dangerous infection.

“It was heartbreaking to hear this. Accepting that we would never get to meet or hold our baby girl. It was the thing I feared the most. And it was also a prognosis that I should have been told weeks earlier. Instead of giving me the science, my doctors told me to drink water. I thought back to those weeks I spent on bedrest, wracked with anxiety, hoping, and praying.”

This is what abortion bans do. They don’t just rob women of choices about medical care, but rob them of basic knowledge about their own bodies and health. You can watch Kulik’s testimony below.

Speaking of the nightmare consequences of abortion bans, let’s take a look at what’s happening in Louisiana, where abortion medication will be a controlled substance come October 1st. These drugs are often used to control hemorrhaging, but because controlled substances need to be locked away–with a specific protocol for checking them out—doctors have had to remove them from their obstetric crash carts.

To prepare, Louisiana hospitals are running timed drills, having staff practice “sprinting from patient rooms and through halls to the locked medicine closets” where abortion medication will be kept.

Jennifer Avegno, director of the New Orleans Health Department, told the Washington Post, “I’ve seen myself what can happen when someone is bleeding out from a miscarriage…a few minutes could mean life and death.”

Most days that I write this newsletter, there is always something that sends me over the edge—today, it was this. The image of doctors practicing how long it will take them to get to the medication that will save their patients’ lives.

It’s no wonder that reproductive health providers don’t want to practice in anti-abortion states. In Missouri, where voters are hoping to restore abortion rights this November via a ballot measure, OBGYN Dr. Betsy Wickstrom tells the St. Louis Post Dispatch that doctors considering moving to the state for residencies are asking “a lot of questions” before making their decision.

“What is concerning to them is: Do I even get to learn the techniques that I would need to help someone who has an incomplete miscarriage, who is bleeding?”

Sometimes I think Republican North Carolina gubernatorial candidate Mark Robinson was created in some anti-abortion lab. HuffPost uncovered a video of Robinson waving his hand in front of his crotch and saying young women need to “get this under control.” Remember, this is the same guy who said that women who have abortions weren’t responsible enough to “keep their skirts down.”

Apparently he also talked about birth control making women more “promiscuous.” I swear, North Carolina, if you elect this guy I’m going to be so mad. You can watch the video here.

Robinson also did something recently that’s become a growing trend among Republicans who are desperate to run from their anti-abortion extremism: He claimed that what he believes on abortion doesn’t matter.

Robinson said that we need to “move on” from abortion and that he doesn’t need to clarify his abortion position because “the people spoke.” (Meaning that they elected the legislators who later passed North Carolina’s 12-week abortion ban.)

“It is time for us to move on, folks. We dealt with that issue. The people have spoken here in this state. My opinion on that right now matters very little, because I don’t get to make that decision. You do. Your representatives do through you, and what they decide we will sign.”

Remember, this “will of the people” language is what conservatives are relying on to distract from the fact that they’re passing abortion bans against voters wishes. It’s a pivot we’re seeing from GOP lawmakers and leaders across the country: National Republicans like Trump claim that abortion is a states’ issue, state leaders like Robinson claim that abortion is up to “the people,” and legislators work overtime to make sure that no actual voters will get to have a say on the issue. Good times!

Then there’s the messaging tactic from GOP politicians in pro-choice states like New Hampshire, where Republicans insist that abortion is already legal and they have no interest in meddling in what’s already done. (I call bullshit.)

Finally, if you ever need a good dose of hope, always look to young people. A group of Alaska teenagers protested at the Alaska State Capitol in Juneau in response to Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s veto of legislation that would expanded birth control access in the state.

Ballot Measure Updates

New polling out of Missouri shows that the majority of voters support the abortion rights amendment that will be on the ballot in November. What’s more, the poll also found that women women supported the proposed amendment 60% to 28%, and that over 60% of voters under 40 support the measure.

Those numbers have Republicans shook. I’m sure that’s why, as I reported yesterday, Sen. Josh Hawley was out and about claiming that the amendment would allow activists to secretly sterilize your kids. They know they’re losing this issue, and they’re desperate to attach it to anything else they think might do better at the polls.

Speaking of desperation, the Florida ‘fraud’ investigation into Amendment 4 signatures continues on. Despite the backlash against the clear attack on democracy, Gov. Ron DeSantis accused Amendment 4 of being “built on fraud”—referring both to the signature-gathering process and the language of the measure.

Just as they did in other states like Ohio, the Catholic church and other religious groups are donating hundreds of thousands of dollars to stop Florida’s Amendment 4. The Miami Herald reports that religious institutions account for more than a third of the total contributions to the “Vote No on 4” campaign’s PAC, and that Catholic churches and organizations contributed over $800,000 to opposing the measure.

Quick hits: The Arizona Republic looks at a new poll and whether or not abortion rights being on the ballot will drive out women voters; more on the letter signed by 800 Missouri medical providers in support of the abortion rights ballot measure heading to voters next month; and ABC News with info on the ten states where abortion is on the ballot.

“But let’s be clear. If Trump wins another term, he wouldn’t even have to sign a bill from Congress; he could take sweeping executive action to eradicate abortion rights. His Food and Drug Administration (FDA) could revoke approval for medication abortion — the most common method in the U.S. He could also revive the 1873 Comstock Act to ban the mailing of abortion pills.”

-Susan J. Demas, Michigan Advance

In the Nation

Senate Republicans have blocked a bill to protect IVF—again! The legislation would have enacted federal protections and guaranteed insurance coverage for the fertility treatments. But despite all of Republicans’ lies about supporting IVF, all but two GOP Senators voted down the bill.

Sen. Patty Murray blasted Republicans for “posturing as pro-family while voting down this bill to help families grow, pretending to support I.V.F. while championing fetal personhood.”

Remember, it wasn’t so long ago that Sens. Katie Britt and Ted Cruz introduced legislation they claimed would support IVF— but it was a pure PR move. In truth, the bill would allow for all sorts of restrictions. Typical:

The GOP's IVF Lie

Quick hits:

• KFF Health News on the rise of out-of-state abortion travel;

• Michelle Goldberg at the Times writes it was only a matter of time before abortion bans killed someone;

• In the wake of a study showing an increase in women seeking tubal ligations after Roe was overturned, research comes out showing that maybe ligations are less effective than previously thought;

• Finally, NPR’s “Morning Edition” spoke to one of the directors of Preconceived, a documentary about anti-abortion crisis pregnancy centers. Listen to their interview here, and watch the trailer for the film here.

---

Today’s the last day to pre-order Abortion and get a small gift from me in the mail!