Bleeding and in pain, a woman endured a harrowing wait for miscarriage care due to Georgia’s restrictive abortion law

Had Avery Davis Bell had a miscarriage in Boston, where she lived until 2020, doctors could snap into action. But because she was having a miscarriage in a hospital in Georgia, surgery had to wait.

In early October, Avery Davis Bell learned that she was about to lose the baby she and her husband very much wanted. The 34-year-old geneticist had been hospitalized in Georgia after repeated episodes of bleeding, and she and her doctors all knew exactly what was needed to manage her miscarriage and prevent a life-threatening infection. They also knew why she wasn’t receiving that care immediately. In an instant, the impacts of her state’s restrictive laws on abortion care became clear: Had Bell been bleeding from a car accident or a burst appendix, doctors could help her right away. Had she had a miscarriage in Boston, where she lived until 2020, doctors could snap into action. But because she was having a miscarriage in a hospital in Georgia, surgery had to wait. Since the US Supreme Court’s 2022 Dobbs decision eliminated the federal right to abortion, miscarriage management has become trickier and in some cases, deadlier. Many miscarriages take place at home without medical intervention, but cases like Bell’s can be treated with the same medicines or surgical techniques used for abortions. Thirteen US states have total or near-total abortion bans. Several others restrict it to certain points in pregnancy, including Georgia, which limits abortion to the first six weeks of pregnancy. Bell’s pregnancy was at 18 weeks — too early for her fetus to survive outside the womb but well past Georgia’s limit.