Bleeding and in pain, a woman endured a harrowing wait for miscarriage care due to Georgia’s restrictive abortion law – CTV
Nov. 11, 2024
In early October, Avery Davis Bell learned that she was about to lose the baby she and her husband very much wanted.
The 34-year-old geneticist had been hospitalized in Georgia after repeated episodes of bleeding, and she and her doctors all knew exactly what was needed to manage her miscarriage and prevent a life-threatening infection. They also knew why she wasn’t receiving that care immediately.
In an instant, the impacts of her state’s restrictive laws on abortion care became clear: Had Bell been bleeding from a car accident or a burst appendix, doctors could help her right away. Had she had a miscarriage in Boston, where she lived until 2020, doctors could snap into action. But because she was having a miscarriage in a hospital in Georgia, surgery had to wait.
