A Tennessee woman needed an abortion to save her life. She then joined a lawsuit against the state’s ban

I t was the worst day of Rachel Fulton’s life. She stood outside her doctor’s office, reeling with the news that her dearly wanted pregnancy needed to end. But her day would, somehow, become even worse: Fulton lives in Tennessee , where abortion is banned except for very narrow threats to the patient’s life. She had to travel hours to another state to receive care from an unfamiliar doctor far from home. Fulton joined a lawsuit , along with five other patients, in 2023 against the state of Tennessee for violating their right to life. The American Medical Association and two doctors also joined the lawsuit because they say they have been prevented from providing the standard of care for their patients. The trial was set to begin on Monday, but a last-minute appeal halted the proceedings indefinitely. The case illustrates the way state-level abortion bans and restrictions are endangering women’s health, even in places where exceptions for patients’ lives are supposed to be in place, said Linda Goldstein, lead attorney at the Center for Reproductive Rights, which helped bring the lawsuit. “An overwhelming majority of Americans want women to be able to get abortion care when their lives or health are threatened, and there are these exceptions written into the law that the politicians tout as doing that, but in fact, they don’t,” Goldstein said. When the Fultons learned they were expecting their second child, they were overjoyed. …