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Women who say they were denied timely treatment for urgent pregnancy problems have filed federal lawsuits against two Texas hospitals.

Kyleigh Thurman and Kelsie Norris-De La Cruz claim that Ascension Seton Williamson and Texas Health Arlington, respectively, violated federal law by refusing to terminate their ectopic pregnancies.

In complaints filed Tuesday by the Center for Reproductive Rights, Thurman and Norris-De La Cruz accuse the hospitals of violating the federal Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA), which requires hospitals to treat patients with medical emergencies to stabilize their condition.

In 2022, the Biden administration issued a policy stating that the law requires hospitals to perform an abortion when it is necessary to treat a pregnant patient with an emergency. Texas was among the states that challenged this policy, arguing that it would amount to an illegal abortion mandate. The Supreme Court held off on ruling on the merits of such a challenge from Idaho earlier this year. In Texas’ case, the policy is currently on hold while the challenge is pending.

Ectopic pregnancies – which occur when a fertilized egg implants outside the uterus, typically in a fallopian tube – are allowed to be terminated due to Texas’s near-total abortion ban. These pregnancies are not viable and are life-threatening if not treated early.

However, Thurman and Norris-De La Cruz claim in their lawsuits that many doctors continue to hesitate to terminate ectopic pregnancies in a timely manner because the abortion ban in Texas provides for severe penalties: If doctors are found to be performing an illegal abortion, they face heavy fines and prison sentences, as well as the loss of their license to practice.

“In ectopic pregnancies, doctors are so afraid of prosecution that they delay treatment to perform additional, unnecessary tests so that their medical judgments are not questioned by government authorities,” representatives of the Center for Reproductive Rights said in a press release. “In an ectopic pregnancy, where every minute counts, a woman’s life could be lost.”

According to her complaint, Thurman first visited an emergency room in Burnet, a rural town outside Austin, in February 2023 on the orders of her gynecologist. She was experiencing cramping, dizziness and persistent bleeding, all signs of an ectopic pregnancy.

After tests in the emergency room revealed a probable ectopic pregnancy, Thurman’s gynecologist recommended the drug methotrexate to terminate the pregnancy. Thurman drove an hour to Ascension Seton Williamson, a larger hospital that had the drug in stock. According to Thurman’s complaint, the hospital performed scans and other tests that suggested an ectopic pregnancy but sent her home. The hospital did not give Thurman methotrexate until after her gynecologist intervened.

But the treatment came too late, according to Thurman’s lawyers. The ectopic pregnancy ruptured a few days later, and doctors at Ascension Seton Williamson had to remove one of her fallopian tubes to save her life.

Thurman and her lawyers argue that her life was needlessly put at risk and her future fertility was affected by the hospital’s delay.

“For weeks I was in and out of emergency rooms trying to get the abortion I needed to save my future fertility and my life,” Thurman said in a statement. “This should have been a clear-cut case. Yet I was left completely in the dark, with no information or options for the treatment I deserved.”

Ascension representative Seton Williamson declined to comment on Thurman’s complaint, but said Ascension is “committed to providing quality care to all who use our services.”

In her ComplaintNorris-De La Cruz also said she lost most of a fallopian tube and an ovary during a delayed surgery to treat an ectopic pregnancy. She said she had to find another gynecologist to treat her after a specialist at Texas Health Arlington declined surgery.

Texas Health Arlington did not respond to KUT’s request for comment prior to publication.

Molly Duane, senior staff attorney for the Center for Reproductive Rights, said she is calling on the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services to investigate the complaints independently and without involving the Texas Health and Human Services Commission.

“It’s painfully clear that the Texas Department of State Health Services and the Texas Medical Association are not on the side of patients who need emergency care when that care is an abortion,” Duane told KUT. “We just don’t trust that the state of Texas is going to be able to conduct this type of investigation in a way that truly protects patients.”