Alabama Mum Says Abortion Ban Complicated Care for Severe Bleeding During IVF Pregnancy

An Alabama mother who became pregnant through in vitro fertilisation (IVF) says that she feared she could die after suffering severe bleeding during pregnancy, while the state's abortion ban affected when doctors could intervene.

Lauren Hock, a 34-year-old accountant, was 14 weeks pregnant in August 2025 when she started haemorrhaging, as per a report by KFF Health News.

She had conceived through IVF and said her doctor told her that if the situation became life-threatening, the hospital would have to approve a procedure to end the pregnancy because of Alabama's abortion restrictions.

Four weeks after, she haemorrhaged again and the fetus died, meaning that her doctors no longer needed the same approval before carrying out the procedure. Hock said that she desperately wanted to preserve the pregnancy but was also confronted with the possibility that her own life could be at risk, saying, 'I could have lost my life with my baby's life.'

Fearing for Her Life During IVF Pregnancy

She started fertility treatment in June 2022, shortly after the United States Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, and gave birth to a son through IVF in December 2023. After losing her pregnancy in 2025, she pursued IVF again and was expecting another child in March 2026.

Alabama bans abortion except in circumstances permitted under state law, including when a physician determines that ending a pregnancy is necessary to prevent a serious health risk to the pregnant woman.

State law defines that risk as a condition requiring termination to avert death or a serious risk of substantial physical impairment of a major bodily function. The Alabama Human Life Protection Act permits abortion when an attending physician determines it is necessary to prevent a serious health risk to the pregnant woman. Outside a medical emergency, the physician's determination must be confirmed in writing by a second Alabama-licensed physician within 180 days after the procedure.

Alabama's Abortion Ban Remains in Effect

Despite Hock's incident, among others, Alabama remains one of the 13 states where abortion is banned as of 2026. The state's law includes exceptions involving serious risks to the pregnant woman's life or physical health, as well as ectopic pregnancy and lethal fetal anomalies.

The state's reproductive health laws have attracted national attention following an Alabama Supreme Court ruling in February 2024 involving frozen embryos, according to an Associated Press report. The court held that embryos stored outside the uterus could fall within the state's Wrongful Death of a Minor Act.

This is a ruling that prompted several major fertility providers to temporarily halt IVF services because of liability concerns. Alabama lawmakers subsequently enacted legislation shielding IVF providers from civil and criminal liability related to embryo damage or destruction during fertility treatments, allowing clinics to resume services.

Severe Bleeding Can Become a Pregnancy Emergency

Heavy bleeding during pregnancy can become a medical emergency and may require rapid intervention depending on its cause and severity. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (ACOG) says clinicians sometimes need to act before a pregnant patient becomes critically ill.

This is because pregnancy complications do not always deteriorate in a predictable way, which could put the mother's well-being at even higher risk. The organisation also warned that narrowly written emergency exceptions can leave doctors uncertain about when they are legally permitted to provide treatment.

ACOG warns that pregnancy complications can progress unpredictably, making it difficult to establish a universal definition of a medical emergency. The organisation argues that doctors must be able to rely on their medical judgment and intervene before a patient's condition becomes critical.

The association adds that medical decisions depend on the circumstances of each patient rather than a fixed list of conditions. It argues that doctors must retain the ability to intervene when they judge treatment to be medically necessary.