Viral video promotes abortion pill while blaming pro-life laws for subpar miscarriage care

In a circulating social media video, a Texas woman named Ruby claims she went into cardiac arrest during a miscarriage (confirmed days earlier by an ultrasound which revealed her child had died in utero) before doctors finally decided to perform a D&C. She blamed the state's pro-life law, despite the fact that the law does not prohibit D&C procedures for miscarriages.

If Ruby was indeed denied necessary medical care, doctors could have been acting negligently.

Key Takeaways:

• In a social media post with the pro-abortion Mayday Health, Ruby said she went into cardiac arrest after doctors refused to carry out a D&C as she bled heavily during a miscarriage; her child had already died in utero.

• Ruby does not state how far along she was or if doctors gave her a reason for not immediately carrying out a D&C, though the standard of care for a miscarriage is not typically an immediate D&C.

• Texas defines abortion as "the act of using or prescribing an instrument, a drug, a medicine, or any other substance, device, or means with the intent to cause the death of an unborn child of a woman known to be pregnant." An act is not an abortion if it is carried out to "remove a dead, unborn child" whose death is the result of a miscarriage.

• Texas law is not the reason that Ruby did not receive an immediate D&C.

The Details:

In a brief social media post, and with an ad for Mayday Health (an abortion pill referral organization) on a gas pump sign behind her, a woman named Ruby shared her miscarriage story. She used the story of potential medical neglect to attack Texas' pro-life law protecting preborn children from abortion.

Miscarriage care is not prohibited by any pro-life law

In her post, Ruby stated:

"I died in the hospital during a miscarriage because the doctors didn't know what to do with me... because of the laws that were passed in Texas. I had been to the OB and found out that the baby didn't have a heartbeat and that I was going to miscarry at some point."

Here's the key detail in Ruby's story — her baby, tragically, no longer had a heartbeat. She does not say how many weeks pregnant she was, but Texas law is clear that if a preborn baby does not have a heartbeat, doctors can act to remove that baby's remains from the mother's uterus.

A D&C (dilation and evacuation) is a procedure that can be used for many reasons, including to carry out testing on uterine tissue, to remove the body of a deceased baby in the first trimester, or to actively and intentionally kill a living preborn baby in the first trimester.

Texas law only prohibits a D&C from being used to intentionally kill a living preborn baby.

Texas defines abortion as (emphasis added) "the act of using or prescribing an instrument, a drug, a medicine, or any other substance, device, or means with the intent to cause the death of an unborn child of a woman known to be pregnant." An act is not an abortion if it is carried out to "remove a dead, unborn child" whose death is the result of a miscarriage.

A D&C is not the standard of care for miscarriage

Ruby continued:

"So a few days later, I woke up and I was in a pile of blood in my bed. And my partner at the time took me into the emergency room.

When we got there, I was questioned multiple times about whether or not I even knew if I was pregnant, but I was bleeding through not only the towel, not just a hand, a towel in my pants, and through my pants. [The nurse] kept coming in and saying, 'You know, I'm sorry. They just don't know what to do with you.' Which was very confusing to me, considering I knew that I needed a D&C.

That was the obvious choice and I didn't understand why it wasn't happening because I wasn't thinking of all the laws that had just been passed that were preventing them from making that decision, even though it was turning into a medical emergency."

Ruby believed she needed a D&C, but there are few details here, and her doctors are bound by patient privacy laws.

Countless media stories since Roe v. Wade was overturned in 2022 have presented a D&C as if it is automatically the first response in a miscarriage situation. It's not. The treatment recommended for miscarriage depends on how far along a pregnancy is, how long since the baby has died, and whether or not the woman is developing an infection.

FACT: Treatments for miscarriage and ectopic pregnancy are legal in every state

The American Pregnancy Association recommends that women contact the doctor when they have prolonged bleeding (over two weeks) and when bleeding is heavier than a menstrual period or filling more than one pad per hour. It sounds as though Ruby was experiencing significant bleeding and was correct to go to the ER, but the details regarding why her doctors acted as they did are not known.

Regardless, it is misleading to say "the laws had just been passed that were preventing them from making that decision, even though it was turning into a medical emergency." The law clearly states that an act is not an abortion if the baby has already died by natural miscarriage.

Medical neglect may be to blame, not the pro-life law

Ruby further stated:

"Unfortunately, when they gave me the morphine, it sent me into cardiac arrest because of how much blood I had lost, and I had to be resuscitated, and only after I was resuscitated were they willing to then rush me to an emergency D&C.

When they took me in there, I had to sign all sorts of paperwork saying that if they needed to, while I was in surgery, that they could give me that blood transfusion. I ended up in the ICU for a few days while they watched my blood levels.

And again, all of this due to the fact that they were afraid to make those decisions because of the laws that have been passed in Texas. So I died and there are plenty of women who don't get resuscitated."

Morphine can increase the risk of cardiac arrest for several reasons, including blood loss. The timeline of events is unclear because Ruby did not share how long she was at the hospital before she went into cardiac arrest. But again, if she was bleeding as heavily as she said she was, and if she did need a D&C, there is nothing in the Texas law stating that doctors were prohibited from carrying one out. Therefore, her lack of care would not have been the fault of the pro-life law but of the doctors in charge of her care.

As previously explained by Live Action News, medical negligence and failure to treat pregnant women also occur in pro-abortion states. This is not solely a pro-life state problem.

Her story is also an advertisement

Behind Ruby throughout her video is a billboard advertising Mayday Heath. According to its website, its "mission is to share information on how to access safe abortion pills and gender-affirming care in any state. We hope to empower people to make their own informed decision about their own bodies. Our information comes from top clinicians, lawyers and health experts."

The group gives women step-by-step instructions on how to set up a temporary address to mail abortion pills to in a pro-abortion state. It directs women to online abortion pill distributor Plan C, a group that misleads women about the safety of the abortion pill. Mayday has also been erecting abortion billboards to promote "abortion options" in pro-life states, like the one Ruby is parked in front of in her video. Read more here.

As previously reported by Live Action News:

Mayday founders Sam Koppelman and Nathaniel Horwitz also reportedly founded Hunterbrook Media and Hunterbrook Capital. A reporter who looked into the two founders said the men have “a pretty ridiculous network”; one of Hunterbook’s advisers, according to the New Yorker, is Paul Steiger, the founder of ProPublica, which has won a Pulitzer for its dishonest narratives alleging that state pro-life laws are to blame for women’s deaths.

Ruby's social media video fits right in with ProPublica's habit of using similar stories of medical neglect to attack pro-life laws. These media attacks spread misinformation and fear, putting women's health and lives at risk. Each story lacks important details and spreads lies about Texas's pro-life law.

Ruby's story does both, plus it's in a condensed form that doubles as an advertisement for Mayday. Its short video format has the power to spread misinformation quickly, and the fear Mayday aims to instill in women is likely to drive them to its website where they will receive inaccurate information about the safety of the abortion pill.

What Mayday doesn't say is that the abortion pill carries a high risk of incomplete abortion, hemorrhage, and infection, and that taking it after 10 weeks increases those risks.

The Bottom Line:

Ruby's baby had already died, which means a D&C would have been completely legal. This truly should be common sense that physicians should have known. If her life was at risk and they failed to act, it could be determined that the doctors acted with negligence.

Fear of legal repercussions is not a good excuse for failing to treat a patient. Every hospital system has attorneys capable of educating their doctors on state laws surrounding abortion and what is and isn’t legally permissible. If the abortion industry knows the laws in pro-life states, shouldn’t hospital attorneys and physicians?

In addition, every doctor should know that intentionally killing a preborn child is entirely different from removing the body of a baby who has already tragically died due to miscarriage.

Reversing pro-life laws won’t prevent medical negligence, but a better understanding of laws will keep women informed and protected.