(LEX 18) — For the third year in a row, doctors, nurses and healthcare workers are urging lawmakers to repeal the state's abortion bans, saying the restrictive laws are making it more difficult to treat patients going through pregnancy complications.
Kentucky has some of the most restrictive abortion bans in the country. One Louisville woman, who wants to remain anonymous for privacy, spoke out, saying Kentucky's ban nearly killed her.
"My life and other women's lives were nearly lost," she said.
The Kentucky woman explained that she experienced an ectopic pregnancy, where the embryo implants itself outside the uterus.
"I knew something was wrong," she described the ectopic pregnancy.
The woman told LEX 18 that doctors had to wait until her condition became life-threatening before they could legally intervene and provide her with abortion care.
"Really [I was] on the brink of death at that point, and that's why I was finally rushed into emergency surgery," she said.
Doctors told LEX 18 that this is happening in Kentucky because of the state's abortion bans. While the bans have exceptions for situations where the woman's life is at risk, doctors say there's confusion about when they can step intervene.
"You're truthfully watching patients deteriorate and suffer right in front of your face, and your hands are tied," Dr. Alecia Fields, a Kentucky OB-GYN, said.
Dr. Fields said the fear of being charged with a felony for providing abortion care is something doctors have to worry about. She said legal questions now pop up while she's treating a patient who needs an abortion.
"My first instinct as a physician has always been, what do I need to do to provide the best possible care? Now, a second question enters my mind, one that should never be there: what am I legally allowed to do?" she said.
"Is this patient sick enough? What's the line that we can or cannot cross to provide care for this patient?" Fields added.
Other doctors voiced similar stories with Kentucky Physicians for Reproductive Freedom. They're calling on lawmakers to repeal the state's abortion bans, saying delays caused by the law are putting patients' lives at risk.
The group says more and more doctors are signing on to call for that repeal. They say as of right now, they have more than 600 signatures.
