As Emily Waldorf languished in an Arkansas hospital, she felt like “a ticking time bomb”. It was 2024, and the physical therapist was in the midst of miscarrying a much-wanted pregnancy. But because her fetus still had a heartbeat, hospital officials said Arkansas’s near-total abortion ban blocked them from taking steps to induce labor and end her pregnancy.
Instead, Waldorf had to wait and hope that she didn’t develop a deadly infection.
Waldorf’s sister, Elizabeth, called the office of Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the Republican governor of Arkansas, to ask for help. “What do you expect the governor to do?” a male official from Sanders’s office asked. Waldorf, the official said, should “find a lawyer”.
Waldorf took the advice, as a sweeping new lawsuit shows. On Wednesday, Waldorf, an OB-GYN and three other Arkansas women who say they were also blocked from getting abortions sued the state in an attempt to strike down its near-total abortion ba
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