Representative Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez, a Democrat from New York, questions if states with abortion bans are able to perform the necessary abortion if someone with an IUD has an ectopic pregnancy. While asking this question, she shares that she herself has an IUD.
OCASIO-CORTEZ: “Since Republicans are forcing this conversation in uncomfortable ways then I will meet them to it. I have an IUD. I've had one for years. Now IUDs, if an IUD fails and results in an ectopic pregnancy, which has about a 50% chance, I believe of an ectopic pregnancy emerging with an IUD. Does that, would that mean that if I were hospitalized in these states you would have to wait until I was in the process potentially of actively dying before you could effectively treat me and save my or anyone in our positions life?”
KUMAR: “So thank you for that question. I think this came up earlier around ectopic pregnancies. To date and to my knowledge, there are no laws that outlaw care for ectopic pregnancies. However, what we've seen in Texas, because these laws are written by politicians and sometimes don't make sense and are difficult to grapple with and understand by physicians who are practicing medicine, we have seen people denied access to that care, and I've actually seen somebody in Texas who left the state to get care for her ectopic pregnancy. So it's very possible it depends on which health care provider you see, which clinic or hospital you may go to because we're interpreting these laws in real time by physicians.”
OCASIO-CORTEZ: “And that's exactly the problem right, doctors are now having to interpret law.”
CHAIRMAN: “The gentlelady's time has expired.”
