Exclusive: Pregnant Woman in Tennessee Denied Care for Being Unmarried (Updated)

[sheshe2]

The 2025 Medical Ethics Defense Act allows physicians to deny care to patients whose "lifestyles" they disagree with

Last Thursday, at a town hall in Jonesborough, Tennessee, a 35-year-old woman shared her story: she was denied prenatal care by her physician because they objected to the fact that she wasn’t married nor did she plan to be. She’d been with her partner for 15 years and they have a 13-year-old child.

While going through her medical history, the physician told her that because she was unwed, they didn’t feel comfortable treating her, because it went against their values and she should seek care elsewhere. At the time of the appointment, the woman believed she was about four weeks into her pregnancy.

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On April 24th, Tennessee’s 2025 Medical Ethics Defense Act went into effect. It gives physicians, hospital systems and insurers, among others, the legal right to deny healthcare to patients based on religious, moral or ethical beliefs. There are no protections for people in rural areas with limited options. There’s no requirement to refer patients elsewhere. And there’s no legal recourse. The woman at the town hall explained that her representatives are not responsive to her questions, even as she repeatedly calls Sen. Marsha Blackburn. When she reached staff at Sen. Bill Hagerty’s office, they told her, “he’s not obligated to listen to his constituents.”

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Less than three months after the Medical Ethics Defense Act became law, at her first prenatal visit, her provider suggested she seek care elsewhere due to differing values. She was shocked. It all became real.

“Instantly, I felt my stomach drop and I knew this wasn't right. This wasn't okay. I didn't want to react in a place of anger, because I felt like that was just going to support any judgment that the provider already had against me,” she told me. “I said ‘thank you for your time’ and left, because if you're not willing to provide the best care to me, regardless of the reason, I don't want any part of this.”

https://wellsrachelm.substack.com/p/pregnant-woman-in-tennessee-denied

I guess this Hypocrite's Hippocratic Oath means nothing.

[pansypoo53219]

1. zombie puritans. england was smart to kick them out.

[Passages]

2. Republican lawmakers' have hated women a long time.

Bill that would allow medical professionals to refuse care ...

WSMV
https://www.wsmv.com › 2025/03/07 › bill-that-would-...
Mar 6, 2025 — Senate Bill 955, which enacts the “Medical Ethics Defense Act,” passed the Senate with 27 yes votes and three no. The bill is sponsored by Sen. ...

[Skittles]

3. she dodged a bullet

who the fuck wants that judgmental POS to be their doctor

[Irish_Dem]

4. GOP hates women and wishes to punish, control, torture and kill them.

[et tu]

7. but sexually abuse them first nt

[Irish_Dem]

21. Trump's rapes are not just about sex. It is about violence and humiliation.

So yes that is part of his love of torturing others.

[Bayard]

5. I bet they don't deny unmarried men getting Viagra

[BOSSHOG]

8. Conservatives never condemn the unwed father

[Arazi]

6. And they wonder why the birth rates are falling across the nation

[rubbersole]

9. What if she was gay, married and pregnant.

Have her wife accompany her to the appointment. The doctor would have a real hissy fit.

[Just Jerome]

10. Another victory

for those for whom Jesus Christ is but a punchline and his teachings are toilet paper!

[hamsterjill]

11. In the early 1990's, I went to a gynecologist for birth control.

I was not on birth control at the time and I had just started a relationship that I felt was headed for intimacy. I remember being asked how long I'd been in the relationship, and it was less than six months. I should not have answered, but I think I did. I was told that I should not consider being intimate before having been in a relationship for at least six months. I remember that it not only infuriated me but made me feel like I was being judged BECAUSE I WAS BEING JUDGED!!!!

Changed doctors immediately, of course. Didn't need that kind of crap. It existed THEN even with the safeguards of equality given by Roe, etc. It is only going to get worse as more and more rights are taken from women and they are judged based on their chastity.

This is why, I believe, that CHOICE and EQUALITY have GOT to be paramount on the Democratic platform.

[GiqueCee]

12. "he's not obligated to listen to his constituents."

8 words that perfectly define the Republican Terrorist Organization.

Wipe the GOP of the face of the Earth.

[sheshe2]

18. This.

He shouldn't be in office if that is how he feels, FFS!

[Ping Tung]

13. Belief in a cruel God makes a cruel man. Thomas Paine

[Gaugamela]

14. The names of the physician and clinic or hospital

should be made public. You can't be polite with fascists. Naming them will put pressure on them and forewarn others who might end up the victim of their quackery. We need a national database of these freaks.

[Oeditpus Rex]

19. Whoever doxed them could then be held liable

in the inevitable lawsuit should someone take revenge on the doctor, clinic or hospital. That's why newspapers et al rarely do it.

[pfitz59]

15. Best she drop the Xian doc

He obviously lacks ethics.

[multigraincracker]

16. Being in the Bible Belt, you'd think they would

study those words in Red, those words attributed to to Jesus. See the beatitudes.

[Mblaze]

17. According to her Bible, Mary wasn't married

To the father of Jesus. Joseph was a beard. This Tennessee "doctor" wouldn't even have given her a manger.

[B.See]

20. More evidence of the throwback mentality

of MAGA'S misogynistic CULT. Sick fks.