Five women who say they were denied abortions in Texas despite facing life-threatening health risks have sued the state over its abortion ban.
Texas bars abortions except for medical emergencies, with doctors facing punishment of up to 99 years in jail.
According to the lawsuit, doctors are refusing the procedure even in extreme cases out of fear of prosecution.
The Center for Reproductive Justice has filed the legal action on behalf of the five women and two healthcare providers that are also plaintiffs.
"It is now dangerous to be pregnant in Texas," said Nancy Northup, the centre's president.
One of the women, Amanda Zurawski, said she had become pregnant after 18 months of fertility treatments. She had just entered her second trimester when she was told she had dilated prematurely and that the loss of her foetus, whom she and her husband had named Willow, was "inevitable".
"But even though we would, with complete certainty, lose Willow, my doctor could not intervene while her heart was still beating or until I was sick enough for the ethics board at the hospital to consider my life at risk," Ms Zurawski said.
For three days, trapped in a "bizarre and avoidable hell", Ms Zurawski was forced to wait until her body entered sepsis - also known as blood poisoning - and doctors were allowed to perform an abortion, according to the lawsuit.
Ms Zurawski spent three days in intensive care, leaving the hospital after a week, the legal action says. The ordeal has made it harder for her to conceive in future, she said.
Source: BBC News, 8 March 2023
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