'Oklahoma’s laws nearly killed me.' Woman files federal complaint over state abortion law
An Oklahoma woman who says she had to leave the state earlier this year to obtain an emergency abortion has filed a federal complaint because she was denied local life-saving care.
The New York-based Center for Reproductive Rights filed the complaint on Tuesday on behalf of Jaci Statton, 26, of Meeker.
The complaint filed with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, argues that Oklahoma Children’s Hospital — OU Health violated the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act, or EMTALA, in denying Statton an abortion.
The federal law, in part, prohibits hospitals with emergency departments from refusing to examine or treat individuals with an emergency medical condition.
More: ‘My baby's not gonna make it and neither am I’; Women flee Oklahoma for life-saving abortions
In Oklahoma, however, Statton says confusion in hospitals about the state’s abortion almost led her to die.
“Oklahoma’s laws nearly killed me,” she said. “Even though I had an extremely dangerous pregnancy and was repeatedly bleeding, I was told to wait in a hospital parking lot until I was near death in order to get the life-saving care I needed.”
In March, Statton and her husband drove to Wichita, Kansas, to obtain her abortion.
“I ended up having to travel almost 200 miles out of state for care,” she said. “It was the longest and most terrifying ride of my life. No one ever thinks they need an abortion, but I am living proof that abortion is health care. It’s not safe to be pregnant in Oklahoma. With this complaint, I want to make sure that no one else has to suffer the way I did.”
Abortion bans passed in state that have been struck down by the Oklahoma Supreme Court
In response to the U.S. Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade last year, Oklahoma's Republican Legislature and Gov. Kevin Stitt quickly approved multiple abortion bans in the Sooner State.
But the Oklahoma Supreme Court has struck down recent abortion bans introduced by state Republicans.
In May, the Oklahoma Supreme Court struck down two state laws that ban most abortions because they require a “medical emergency” before a doctor could terminate a pregnancy to save a mother’s life.
In a 6-3 decision, the court said the laws violate the Oklahoma Constitution based on its ruling in March that the constitution provides an inherent right for a woman to terminate a pregnancy to save her own life and does not require the danger to be imminent.
The decision left Oklahoma with a single law — dating back to 1910 — which punishes a person with two to five years in prison for administering or advising a person to end a pregnancy at any point unless it is "necessary to preserve her life."
The decision came too late for Statton. She learned she was pregnant in January. She and her husband already had three young children and were excited about the news of a baby on the way.
But by late February, Statton was experiencing lower abdominal pain, nausea and dizziness.
One day while cooking with her daughter, Statton nearly passed out and noticed blood on her pants.
Her doctor advised her that she had a partial molar pregnancy — a dangerous condition where a nonviable embryo develops with a tumor that may become cancerous, which can lead to severe bleeding, high blood pressure, preeclampsia and death.
Statton’s doctor advised her to get an abortion.
Later at the University of Oklahoma Medical Center, the hospital refused to perform an abortion because an ultrasound technician reported detecting fetal cardiac activity. A heartbeat, Statton said.
She was taken to Oklahoma Children’s Hospital, where, Statton said, staff told her to wait in the parking lot until she was on the verge of death.
Two days later she and her husband made the three-hour drive to Whichita, where she obtained her abortion.
“This is what the maternal care during an emergency — an OB emergency — looks like under these abortion bans,” Statton said Wednesday. “We will never get over what happened to us. Turned away from so many hospitals where skilled and caring doctors could not act to save my life.”
In a statement, David McCollum, spokesman for OU Health, said:
“Our physicians and staff remain steadfast and committed to providing the highest quality and compassionate care for women of all ages and stages of life. Our healthcare complies with state and federal laws and regulatory compliance standards. Our physicians and staff are aware of and follow state and federal laws.”
Lawsuits over abortion bans in other states
The announcement Tuesday of Statton’s federal filing came along with the Center for Reproducing Rights publicizing two more lawsuits filed over abortion restrictions.
During a news conference online, the center announced lawsuits against Idaho and Tennessee.
Added to the filing on behalf of Statton, the legal actions represent claims by eight women who were denied abortions despite dangerous pregnancy complications, along with four doctors and a leading Idaho medical organization.
These filings follow a recent ruling by a Texas judge that a group of 13 women with risky pregnancies should have been given abortions. Texas appealed the ruling, which is on hold.
“The Supreme Court’s unwarranted reversal of Roe v. Wade has led repeatedly, in multiple states, to women being denied abortion care when they face serious complications in their pregnancies,” Nancy Northup, president and CEO of the Center for Reproductive Rights, said Tuesday. “No one should have to be at death’s door to receive essential health care, but that is exactly what happens when doctors are forced to practice medicine under threat of imprisonment. Abortion bans across the nation are exposing pregnant people to risks of death, illness, and injury, including loss of fertility. The women standing up today survived, but it is only a matter of time before someone does not.”The lawsuits filed in Idaho and Tennessee ask state courts to clarify what circumstances qualify under the “medical emergency” exceptions in the states’ abortion bans, the center says.
“In my decade of medical training, I was never taught how to sort out vague laws that were not written using medical terminology,” Emily Corrigan, an OB-GYN based in Boise, Idaho, said Wednesday.
In Oklahoma, doctors and hospitals experience similar confusion because of the state’s abortion law, said Rabia Muqaddam, an attorney with the Center for Reproductive Rights.
“What is apparent though is that hospitals remain confused, and doctors in the state remain confused about their obligations under this federal law,” Muqaddam said. “And so our hope is that this complaint will continue to improve access to abortion in these circumstances, and to make sure that hospitals are really providing this care that they are both required to by EMTALA and also required to under the state constitution now.”
Muqaddam said a finding by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that Statton was wrongly refused treatment could lead to a variety of administrative actions.
“One of the primary remedies after an investigation involves a process akin to a correction,” she said. “So the agency will work with the hospital to ensure the hospital understands its obligations under the law and makes any policy changes in the hospital to ensure that it doesn’t happen again. There's also a possibility of fines and other negative actions that might be taken around funding for the hospital.”
Such a finding also would be imposed across Oklahoma, Muqaddam said.
“It’s a strong tool that we can use to go to any hospital in the state and say ‘if you’re treating patients like these hospitals treated Jaci, you are violating federal law and that law applies to you the same way it does to OU Health and the same way it does to hospitals across the country.'”
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Oklahoma woman who went to Kansas for abortion files federal complaint
