Republican Says Abortion Law Fear Delayed Her Care for Ectopic Pregnancy

A Florida Republican is blaming fearmongering from abortion-rights groups about the state's abortion law for doctors hesitating to treat her ectopic pregnancy last year.

Representative Kat Cammack went to the emergency room in May 2024 and needed a shot of methotrexate to help expel her ectopic pregnancy.

Though doctors estimated that she was just five weeks pregnant, there was no heartbeat and her life was at risk, Cammack told the Wall Street Journal that staff had resisted giving her the drug because they were worried about losing their licenses or going to jail after Florida's near-total abortion ban took effect. Hours later, doctors agreed to give her the drug, she told the newspaper.

Newsweek has contacted Cammack's office and abortion-rights groups for comment via email.

The Context

Florida's ban took effect on May 1, 2024, making abortions illegal after six weeks with narrow exceptions. The penalties for those who violate the ban are steep, punishable by up to five years in prison, fines of up to $5,000 and loss of medical licenses.

The law did not ban treatment of ectopic pregnancies, which occur when a fetus implants outside of the uterus and has no room to grow. If not treated, such pregnancies can rupture, causing organ damage, hemorrhaging or even death.

A report from the nonprofit Physicians for Human Rights in September 2024 said the ban created an "unworkable legal landscape" and that doctors had reported that ER staff were afraid to provide methotrexate to patients as it was an "abortive agent." The Florida Agency for Health Care Administration then issued guidance to address what it called "misinformation" about the state's abortion law, stating that abortion is permissible at any state of pregnancy in Florida to save the life and health of the mother, including in cases of ectopic or molar pregnancies and when there is premature rupture of membranes.

What To Know

Cammack, an abortion opponent who co-chairs of the House Pro-Life Caucus, supports exceptions for reported cases of rape and incest in the first trimester and in cases in which the mother's life is at risk, the Journal reported.

She told the newspaper that she did not blame the Florida law for what she experienced. Rather, she lay the blame on messaging from abortion-rights advocates, which she said made hospital staff afraid of giving drugs even in circumstances where it was legal.

"It was absolute fearmongering at its worst," Cammack, who is pregnant again, said. But she added that she knows that abortion rights advocates might view her experience differently.

"There will be some comments like, 'Well, thank God we have abortion services,' even though what I went through wasn't an abortion," she said.

What People Are Saying

Molly Duane, senior attorney at the Center for Reproductive Rights, told the Wall Street Journal that although Florida regulators say ectopic pregnancies are exempt from restrictions, the law does not define ectopic pregnancy and it can be difficult for doctors to tell where an embryo has implanted.

She said blaming medical professionals echoes the "playbook of antiabortion extremists that for decades have been blaming and villainizing doctors."

Alison Haddock, the president of the American College of Emergency Physicians, told the Journal that it is common for doctors in states that have restriction access to abortion to be concerned about "whether their clinical judgment will stand should there be any prosecution."

What's Next

Cammack, who is expecting her first child in August, said she hoped sharing her story helps those on opposing sides find common ground.

"I would stand with any woman—Republican or Democrat—and fight for them to be able to get care in a situation where they are experiencing a miscarriage and an ectopic" pregnancy, she said.