An abortion rights advocacy group filed lawsuits in three states on Tuesday on behalf of women who say they were denied abortions despite suffering life-threatening pregnancy complications.
The Center for Reproductive Rights sued on behalf of eight women and four doctors in Idaho, Tennessee and Oklahoma, three states that have passed some of the strictest abortion bans since the U.S. Supreme Court gutted federal abortion rights by overturning Roe v. Wade in 2022.
All three states include narrow medical exceptions in their bans, but their vague language and potential criminal penalties for doctors have scared providers into delaying care to the detriment of patients' health, plaintiffs say. Anti-abortion advocates say the laws clearly allow exceptions for abortions in rare emergency cases.
Nicole Blackmon, one of the plaintiffs in the Tennessee case, told reporters she was excited to become pregnant last year after losing her 14-year-old son in a drive-by shooting. But she learned at 24 weeks that her baby would not survive because of a fatal fetal condition, and she had to either travel for an abortion or wait for her health to deteriorate to justify an abortion in Tennessee under state law.
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