There came a point when the chills, fever and cramps were so intense that Lynn Callaway thought she might die.Callaway was having a miscarriage, and had developed an infection. She wanted abortion-inducing medication or surgery to help empty her uterus and bring her suffering to an end. But, in a federal complaint filed Monday, Callaway says she’d already been refused that type of care at two Austin area emergency rooms, and felt she had no choice but to endure alone at home.Her husband, Mario, was unwilling to accept that his otherwise healthy 40-year-old wife was suddenly wan and bleeding on the floor, while their young son watched in alarm. He wanted to take her to New Mexico or Colorado to get the care they say they were wrongfully denied in Texas. But she was too weak to sustain the trip.When they finally saw her doctor days later, Callaway was prescribed abortion-inducing drugs to pass the miscarriage. In an interview with The Texas Tribune, Callaway said when she pressed her doctor on why it had taken three medical facilities four days to treat her, she was told the emergency room would “have to be damned sure that it’s an actual miscarriage to be offering the pill.”
Four years after Texas banned nearly all abortions, Callaway is among women who say they are still being denied the full range of miscarriage care by doctors fearful of being accused of performing a prohibited abortion and spending life in prison or losing their medical licenses.
