Georgia abortion law could limit care for pregnancy complications, some patients and doctors fear

Georgia’s recently enacted House Bill 481 has some patients who survived past life-threatening pregnancy complications and OB-GYNs worried the abortion restrictions may also limit medical care for patients who suffer a miscarriage or other serious complications.

Andrew Harnik / Associated Press

It’s been more than a month since a federal court enacted Georgia’s abortion law House Bill 481, banning nearly all abortions at about six weeks of pregnancy, when ultrasound machines can detect electrical pulsing in the womb and before many people know they are pregnant.

The law is already fueling fears in Georgia that it may also make it harder for some patients to access miscarriage management because the treatment uses the same procedures as abortion.  

Sitting in her office at work in Lithonia, Mykal Fraser remembers when things suddenly went wrong with her first pregnancy.