Women in Idaho, Tennessee and Oklahoma sue over abortion bans after being denied care
Associated PressNASHVILLE, Tenn. — More women across the U.S. filed lawsuits on Tuesday challenging abortion restrictions that went into effect in Republican-led states after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last year. A woman in Oklahoma who said she had a dangerous and nonviable pregnancy filed a federal lawsuit on Tuesday asserting that she was denied an abortion despite a U.S. law that requires doctors to perform the procedure when it’s medically necessary. The legal challenges filed Tuesday comprise deeply personal testimonies from women who were denied abortion services and physicians who were terrified of violating the states’ abortion bans. Born and raised in Idaho, Adkins said the state’s restrictive law is “unthinkable” and “disgusting.” Jaci Statton, who filed the federal complaint in Oklahoma, said she nearly died during a pregnancy that her doctors told her was nonviable. DHHS said the federal Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act supersedes state abortion bans that don’t have adequate exceptions for medical emergencies.