Hospitals that refused emergency abortion broke federal law: feds

Two Midwest hospitals that refused to provide an abortion to a woman whose life was in danger broke federal law, according to a report shared Monday by the federal government.

Mylissa Farmer, a Missouri resident, drove to hospitals in her hometown of Joplin and 130 miles north in Kansas City, Kan. Her water broke when she was 17 weeks pregnant, and doctors told her the fetus would not survive.

Further, Farmer was at risk of serious infection or losing her uterus. But doctors in both states refused to treat her because they could still detect a fetal heartbeat.

Farmer, 41, ultimately traveled to an abortion clinic in Illinois.

“It was dehumanizing. It was terrifying. It was horrible not to get the care to save your life,” Farmer said. “I felt like I was responsible to do something, to say something, to not have this happen again to another woman. It was bad enough to be so powerless.”

Farmer’s ordeal began in August, and she filed formal complaints about her treatment. That led to an investigation by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, a first of its kind since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June 2022.

Women across the country have reported being turned away at hospitals and told to travel out of state for care.

“They were telling me to basically get out of the state to get the care that I needed,” Farmer explained last October.

But in the report issued Monday, the federal government said federal laws requiring hospitals to treat all patients in need of emergency care trump state laws restricting abortion access.

Abortion is banned in Missouri in all cases except to save a woman’s life. In Kansas, abortion is legal up to 22 weeks into pregnancy, and it’s unclear why Farmer was turned away.

“Fortunately, this patient survived,” Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra said. “But she never should have gone through the terrifying ordeal she experienced in the first place.”

With News Wire Services

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