A Woman Was Denied Medication for Being of 'Childbearing Age.' She Just Sued the Hospital
Last September, New York resident Tara Rule posted a raw, emotional video on Tiktok saying she had been denied a medication to treat a debilitating condition called cluster headaches, because her neurologist told her she was of “childbearing age” and the medication could cause birth defects to a hypothetical fetus.
Rule said that as she sat in her neurologist’s office at Glens Falls Hospital, she told him she never planned to have kids and would have an abortion if she became pregnant; referencing the overturning of Roe v. Wade, he responded that getting the care she was seeking is “trickier now with the way things are going.” He also said she should bring her partner “in on the conversation” on her medical care. Rule asked if the issue preventing her from getting the “highly effective” medication was solely that she could become pregnant and, “If I was, like, through menopause, would [the medication] be very effective for cluster headaches?” The doctor affirmed it would. He also asked about her sex life and whether she’s “with a steady person.” Rule shared audio recordings of the appointment on TikTok at the time.
Last week, Rule filed a lawsuit against Albany Medical Health Partners charging the largest hospital system in upstate New York with discrimination over the denial of her medication and a string of incidents afterward. The suit alleges that denying her medication because she’s of “childbearing age” and prioritizing an imagined fetus over her health violates federal law—specifically, the Affordable Care Act’s anti-discrimination provisions and the Age Discrimination Act. “Where are we drawing the line here?” Rule told Jezebel. “Are hospitals going to require someone to share a pregnancy test, proof they’re on birth control, get a hysterectomy, to get life-saving health care?” She said she hopes her lawsuit can create more medical protections for people of “childbearing age” post-Roe.
In a similar example of post-Roe concerns around the mere possibility of pregnancy impacting people’s access to medication, several people who could become pregnant have reported being denied sometimes life-saving medications that are deemed “abortifacients” by doctors and pharmacists. Even before Roe was overturned, in 2021, a pregnant woman in Alabama was arrested and prosecuted for trying to pick up pain medication from her pharmacist to manage a chronic back condition, as police alleged she was endangering her pregnancy. Rule told Jezebel she’s heard from “people who say they were denied everything from acne medication to chemotherapy for the same reason.”
https://jezebel.com/childbearing-age-medication-denied-lawsuit-1850899899
Men attempting to control women for no reason except they CAN! JFC, is it ever going to stop?????
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