A Republican Congresswoman from Florida is making headlines after revealing she nearly died from a pregnancy complication—yet still defends the state’s extreme abortion ban. In May 2024, just as Florida’s six-week abortion ban took effect, Congresswoman Kat Cammack rushed to the emergency room. Doctors told her she had a life-threatening ectopic pregnancy, where a fertilized egg implants outside the uterus and cannot survive. If left untreated, it could rupture and cause internal bleeding, even death.
The safest option was a shot of methotrexate to dissolve the pregnancy. But because methotrexate can also be used for abortions, Florida doctors hesitated, afraid of legal consequences under the new law. Cammack spent hours in the ER showing staff the law on her phone and even tried to call the governor. Eventually, doctors agreed to give her the shot. But despite the ordeal, Cammack says she doesn’t blame the law. Instead, she blames Democrats.
She told the Wall Street Journal,
“It was absolute fear-mongering at its worst. There will be some comments like, ‘Well, thank God we have abortion services,’ even though what I went through wasn’t an abortion.”
While technically not classified as an abortion, ectopic pregnancies are still treated with the same medicines and procedures that have become restricted in abortion bans across the country. At least five women have died in states with similar bans after being denied treatment for miscarriages or complications. Others, like in Texas, have lost their fertility after being turned away.
Still, Cammack says she opposes abortion rights. But adds,
“I would stand with any woman—Republican or Democrat—and fight for them to be able to get care in a situation where they are experiencing a miscarriage and an ectopic pregnancy.”
Florida remains one of the strictest states in the nation on abortion access, penalizing doctors with prison time and fines. This story raises deeper concerns—not only about reproductive rights, but about the growing political trend of ignoring lived experience in favor of ideology.
