Anti-abortion center left woman with life-threatening rupture after botching diagnosis: lawsuit

An anti-abortion "crisis pregnancy center" failed to diagnose a Massachusetts woman's ectopic pregnancy during a routine ultrasound, causing her to unexpectedly have a life-threatening rupture and require emergency surgery that cost her a fallopian tube, claims a lawsuit reported by Jezebel on Tuesday.

"The woman, known as Jane Doe, filed a class action lawsuit on Thursday in Worcester Superior Court alleging that Clearway Clinic in Worcester didn’t follow standard medical care. The suit also claims that Clearway engages in deceptive practices to lure in people seeking the full range of pregnancy options, when its actual purpose is just to dissuade them from getting abortions," reported Susan Rinkunas.

An ectopic pregnancy occurs when a zygote implants in one of the fallopian tubes rather than the uterus. It is an extremely dangerous condition; ectopic pregnancies are not viable, and if left untreated cause catastrophic injury or death. Many anti-abortion activists have spread disinformation about this condition, claiming most ectopic pregnancies will simply end in miscarriage, or even that doctors can reimplant them rather than aborting them.

"A Clearway nurse did an ultrasound and said the pregnancy was both viable and in her uterus; the suit says it’s against state medical regulations for registered nurses to read ultrasounds because they’re not licensed diagnosticians. A physician didn’t see Doe, though her discharge paperwork said a medical doctor provided her care," said the report.

"A month later, Doe felt shooting pain on her side and was so weak and lightheaded that her husband called 911, per the release. Emergency room doctors diagnosed her with a ruptured ectopic pregnancy and internal hemorrhage. In order to stop the hemorrhaging, doctors did emergency surgery in which they had to remove of one of her fallopian tubes."

Had Clearway correctly diagnosed the condition, noted the report, "legitimate medical providers would have ended Doe’s life-threatening pregnancy with medication — typically the cancer drug methotrexate."

Crisis pregnancy centers, also called pregnancy resource centers, are organizations that disguise themselves as women's health clinics to trap women seeking abortions and persuade and coerce them into continuing pregnancies, often by lying about how abortion or pregnancy works. They generally offer free ultrasounds — but rarely from trained medical professionals — and sometimes infant resources like diapers and clothing. Many of them are run directly by religious ministries, and because they are generally not regulated as medical facilities, there is little oversight of their practices, even though many receive state funding.

In recent months, just as abortion clinics have been routine targets for violence from activists, some crisis pregnancy centers have also been targeted by vandalism or threats, triggering an FBI investigation.