Doctors Fearing Legal Blowback Are Denying Life-Saving Abortions

Hospitals and doctors are struggling to toe the line between providing life-saving measures for women and wading into a legal gray area that’s emerged in the absence of abortion rights.

In the weeks after the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade leaked, a pregnant woman visited Katie McHugh, a gynecologist and abortion provider in Indiana. The patient, who was between eight and 12 weeks pregnant, was bleeding and cramping. An ultrasound showed that a miscarriage was inevitable, but the woman had to cross state lines for treatment because her doctors in Kentucky refused to terminate the pregnancy.

That’s because Kentucky is ...