‘Not a fix.’ House Bill 90 adds confusion on exceptions to abortion ban | Opinion

As an anesthesiologist and critical care physician, I have spent my career caring for high-risk obstetrical cases. In the Navy and later in civilian practice, I worked with pregnant patients facing serious cardiac disease, crafting intricate labor and delivery plans. Sometimes, when no safe path forward existed, we advised termination to protect the patient’s life.

Our role was never to judge or impose personal beliefs, or strip autonomy from our patients. We were a safety net, ensuring patients had medical expertise, comfort, and support as they made the best decisions for themselves.

There was never a legal question about doing the right thing for our patients. Patient health and well-being remained our priority without government interference.

That was before Roe fell.

After the Supreme Court’s decision, state-level bans created confusion and fear, especially in Kentucky. Legal restrictions were vague and medically uninformed. Even states with supposed exceptions for “life or life-limiting injury” of the mother left doctors unsure: What does that mean? Who decides? The ambiguity was chilling.

Doctors in restricted states now work in an impossible gray area, balancing our duty to save lives against the threat of prosecution. In cases of hemorrhage or critical distress, we are often forced to wait until a patient deteriorates further — sometimes dangerously — before intervening. We are stuck between doing what is right and doing what is legal.

To try to address these concerns, Kentucky legislators passed House Bill 90, claiming it would clarify when physicians can provide emergency care. The bill offers no such shelter.

The medical conditions named in HB 90, are life threatening. However, HB 90 still does not allow doctors to intervene at the medically appropriate time, prior to the situation becoming life threatening or limiting. The bill restricts doctors’ ability to practice the highest standard of care for the benefit of the patient.

The bill’s language allows judges and attorneys general to second-guess clinical decision making, replacing expertise with political interference.

This is not a fix. It is another barrier.

Since the fall of Roe, medical professionals like me have fought – personally, professionally, and politically – to protect our patients and our profession. In 2023 and 2024, states moved to enshrine reproductive rights in their constitutions. Even in Kentucky, voters rejected an amendment that would have permanently banned abortion rights. Yet the crisis in women’s healthcare continues.

Today, pregnant patients in restrictive states are often told to wait — sometimes at home, sometimes in a hospital — until fetal cardiac activity stops before doctors can act. This is not just cruel; it is medically dangerous. Delayed care increases the risk of severe blood loss, infection, multi-organ failure, and death.

For every story that makes headlines — of a woman forced to carry a nonviable pregnancy or denied lifesaving care — countless others remain hidden. They belong to the people we see everyday: the woman at church, the mother at the grocery store, the teenager in traffic. These silent stories matter.

Because one day, that silence could find you or someone you love.

When access to necessary care becomes personal, the debate won’t be about politics — it will be about survival. And treatment won’t be delayed by policy discussions — it will be denied outright, even if it means suffering or death.

House Bill 90 does not fix the problem. By allowing government officials to question and criminalize medical expertise, it injects more fear into an already dangerous situation. Doctors should not have to wait for legal approval to save a life and patients deserve the highest quality medical care when immediately necessary.

This is why we must continue to fight — not just for the patients who can speak out, but for those suffering in silence, trapped by unjust laws.

When I practiced medicine in the Navy, leadership trusted our expertise. There was no political interference in life-or-death decisions. Today, that safety net is gone. Doctors are left on their own, navigating vague and dangerous laws while trying to save lives.

Without change—without protections for both patients and providers—there is no safe way forward.

And for far too many, that is already proving deadly.

Dr. Nicole King is an anesthesiologist, intensivist, and author who spent years specializing in high-risk obstetrical care. She is a Navy Veteran, partner and mother who is also a member of Kentucky Physicians for Reproductive Freedom.

This story was originally published March 20, 2025 at 2:31 PM.