Idaho doctor describes danger of transferring women needing abortion care to other states

As part of a lawsuit challenging medical exceptions in Idaho's total abortion ban, a doctor took the stand Wednesday to deliver heart-wrenching testimony about being forced to transfer pregnant women by plane in the middle of medical emergencies to obtain abortion care in neighboring states.

Dr. Emily Corrigan, one of the plaintiffs suing the state over its ban, described the transfer of patients experiencing preterm premature rupture of the membranes -- when a patient's water breaks before the pregnancy is viable -- to other states.

Once treating physicians and consulting physicians decide a patient needs to be transported out of state, they call a transport center and identify where to transfer them based on the services available, Corrigan said.

"All of that process takes up to an hour, generally," Corrigan said. "Then, we all get on a conference call. I present the patient's situation, why they need to be transported, why they need services that cannot be provided at our institution. Then, hopefully, they accept the patient. Then, the transport center starts arranging for the physical transport."

The fastest transfer she has seen took eight hours, she testified. There have been times when there are delays -- for everything from finding a pilot to difficult weather or wildfires, she testified.

"Generally, these patients are traveling to the University of Utah or the University of Washington, and so the transport occurs by a EMS team arriving at our hospital, placing the patient on a gurney, then taking them in an ambulance to the Boise airport, then they are loaded onto a small plane," Corrigan said.

"Then, they are flown to the airport in Salt Lake City or Seattle, then another ambulance meets them there at the airport. ... By and large, they travel by themselves. They are not allowed to have any family or support people travel with them," Corrigan said.

Transferring physicians also have to explain to their patients that when they leave the hospital they are at a "lower level of care," and cannot perform surgery, there is no blood bank and they cannot transfuse blood products, Corrigan testified.

"Their condition could deteriorate en route and, again, the emergency medical personnel that are transporting the patient may not have the appropriate equipment, medications, expertise [or] resources necessary to best treat the patient, because, again, it's not a traveling hospital," Corrigan said.

Corrigan also detailed the dangers Idaho residents face if they wanted to drive for abortion care, due to the size and remoteness of much of the state.

"Once you leave the Treasure Valley, to get to another sizable hospital out of state, it's at least a five- to seven- to eight-hour drive, and the vast majority of those miles are through barren desert ... without cell service, without Emergency Medical Services at all," Corrigan testified.

"So for patients driving out of state, they face many hours without available medical care, and their condition could rapidly progress. They could develop an infection, become febrile, become septic, they could start bleeding due to a placental abruption. They could deliver the fetus en route," Corrigan testified.

The testimony came as part of a lawsuit filed by four women who were unable to receive abortions due to the state's total ban, and two doctors, who are suing on behalf of their patients. The four women took the stand on Tuesday, tearfully recounting their experiences.

In addition to its total ban, which only allows abortions to prevent the death of the mother, Idaho has a six-week ban in effect.