The Human Cost of Denying Reproductive Care

An ectopic pregnancy occurs when a fertilized egg implants outside the uterus.

most commonly in the fallopian tube.

Ectopic pregnancies can never result in a viable birth.

They will never become viable fetuses.

Without prompt treatment, ectopic pregnancies can rupture, causing potentially catastrophic internal bleeding.

There is literally no reason that an ectopic pregnancy should not be treated, regardless of your views on abortion.

ProPublica analyzed data from the Centers for Disease Control and found that almost 200 women from 2020 through 2025 died after having ectopic pregnancies.

In the previous six years, roughly 100 women died.

The increase occurred nationwide and began during the COVID pandemic.

When pro-publica separated states with strict abortion bans from states without them, another pattern emerged.

Since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v.

Wade in June of 2022, states have been free to impose abortion bans that previously would have been unconstitutional.

In January of this year, the White House celebrated Donald's three appointments to the court and said the Supreme Court delivered what it called, quote, a triumphant victory, unquote.

That's right, a victory which has ended in the unnecessary deaths of 200 women simply because they were denied essential and life-saving health care because, well, actually for no reason whatsoever, because there were no potential babies in any of these pregnancies.

Today, abortion is banned entirely in 13 states.

Another seven bannered at 12 weeks or earlier, including Florida, Georgia, Iowa, and South Carolina, states that ban at roughly six weeks, which is when many women have only recently learned they are pregnant or don't even know they're pregnant yet.

Some of the exceptions are extremely narrow.

Nine states with total bans or early gestational limits provide no exception for pregnancies resulting from rape or incest.

Well, provide no exception for a fatal fetal anomaly.

Five, don't even provide a broader health exception beyond circumstances involving the woman's life.

Most in Borchaban exempt ectopic pregnancies or contain some form of medical emergency exception, but an ectopic pregnancy can become dangerous before doctors can definitively prove that's what it is.

A woman can arrive in an emergency room bleeding and in pain with abnormal pregnancy hormone levels while an ultrasound still cannot show where the pregnancy exists within the woman's body.

Before the abortion ban, the patient and her doctor could decide that the danger to the woman's life and health were too great to wait regardless if the pregnancy were an ectopic one or not.

Under the current strict bands though, doctors now have another calculation to make.

Do they have enough evidence to prove that providing an abortion is legal? In other words, do I have the luxury of finding out if this is an ectopic or a viable pregnancy? And in the interim, will that delay further endanger the woman's life? 11 states with abortion bans impose criminal penalties on doctors who violate them.

An ectopic pregnancy occurs when a fertilized egg implants outside the uterus.

most commonly in the fallopian tube.

Ectopic pregnancies can never result in a viable birth.

They will never become viable fetuses.

Without prompt treatment, ectopic pregnancies can rupture, causing potentially catastrophic internal bleeding.

There is literally no reason that an ectopic pregnancy should not be treated, regardless of your views on abortion.

ProPublica analyzed data from the Centers for Disease Control and found that almost 200 women from 2020 through 2025 died after having ectopic pregnancies.

In the previous six years, roughly 100 women died.

The increase occurred nationwide and began during the COVID pandemic.

When pro-publica separated states with strict abortion bans from states without them, another pattern emerged.

Since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v.

Wade in June of 2022, states have been free to impose abortion bans that previously would have been unconstitutional.

In January of this year, the White House celebrated Donald's three appointments to the court and said the Supreme Court delivered what it called, quote, a triumphant victory, unquote.

That's right, a victory which has ended in the unnecessary deaths of 200 women simply because they were denied essential and life-saving health care because, well, actually for no reason whatsoever, because there were no potential babies in any of these pregnancies.

Today, abortion is banned entirely in 13 states.

Another seven bannered at 12 weeks or earlier, including Florida, Georgia, Iowa, and South Carolina, states that ban at roughly six weeks, which is when many women have only recently learned they are pregnant or don't even know they're pregnant yet.

Some of the exceptions are extremely narrow.

Nine states with total bans or early gestational limits provide no exception for pregnancies resulting from rape or incest.

Well, provide no exception for a fatal fetal anomaly.

Five, don't even provide a broader health exception beyond circumstances involving the woman's life.

Most in Borchaban exempt ectopic pregnancies or contain some form of medical emergency exception, but an ectopic pregnancy can become dangerous before doctors can definitively prove that's what it is.

A woman can arrive in an emergency room bleeding and in pain with abnormal pregnancy hormone levels while an ultrasound still cannot show where the pregnancy exists within the woman's body.

Before the abortion ban, the patient and her doctor could decide that the danger to the woman's life and health were too great to wait regardless if the pregnancy were an ectopic one or not.

Under the current strict bands though, doctors now have another calculation to make.

Do they have enough evidence to prove that providing an abortion is legal? In other words, do I have the luxury of finding out if this is an ectopic or a viable pregnancy? And in the interim, will that delay further endanger the woman's life? 11 states with abortion bans impose criminal penalties on doctors who violate them.