US government rejects complaint that woman was improperly denied an emergency abortion in Oklahoma

By KIMBERLEE KRUESI
Associated Press

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services says an Oklahoma hospital did not violate federal law after doctors told a woman with a nonviable pregnancy to wait in the parking lot until her condition worsened enough to qualify for an abortion.  Jaci Statton filed a complaint with the department last year under the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act. Doctors had told her that she had a partial molar pregnancy but could not give her an abortion until she was closer to death. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services told Statton that it could not “confirm a violation” of the emergency care federal law after conducting an investigation.