Case: 23-10362 Document: 543-1 Page: 19 Date Filed: 08/16/2023
The woman was given mifepristone by the doctor at Planned Parenthood and took the drug. The woman called an Uber for a ride home from Planned Parenthood. The woman began to experience bleeding and other adverse side effects from the mifepristone. The woman’s Uber driver did not take her home because she was so ill and instead brought her to the hospital’s emergency department.
At the hospital, the woman came under my care. The woman had not yet taken the second abortion drug, misoprostol. I treated the patient for the adverse effects she suffered and told her not to take the misoprostol given to her by Planned Parenthood because of the grave risk that she could bleed out and die. The woman had a subsequent ultrasound, which showed that her unborn child was still alive. I advised the internists treating this patient to avoid administering certain medications that could harm the patient and her unborn child.
Dr. Wozniak Declaration ¶ 24. The risk of complications, the Medical Organizations say, is only heightened in the case of ectopic pregnancy. Dr. Skop testified about the dangers of taking mifepristone under that condition:
[A]pproximately 2% of pregnancies are ectopic pregnancies, implanted outside of the uterine cavity. Chemical abortion drugs will not effectually end an ectopic pregnancy because they exert their effects on the uterus, which leaves women at risk of severe harm from hemorrhage due to tubal rupture, in need of emergent surgery or potentially at risk of death. Failure to perform an ultrasound prior to prescribing abortion drugs will cause some women to remain undiagnosed and at high risk for these adverse outcomes.
Dr. Skop Declaration ¶ 29; see also Dr. Barrows Declaration ¶ 18.
According to the Medical Organizations and Doctors, these are examples of medical cases that occur across the county. The occurrences extend not just to the declarants, they say, but to all of the Organizations’ members
19
