Harrowing miscarriage story exposes devastating consequences of Republican abortion bans like those in New Hampshire

You could hear a pin drop when Ryan Hamilton was done talking.

Hamilton, whose wife nearly died because of Texas’ abortion ban, visited Manchester on behalf of the Harris-Walz presidential campaign last week and shared the harrowing experience of how she nearly died from complications of a miscarriage due to restrictive abortion laws in Texas.

“They gave me this nice binder with my speech. I’ve been all over this country telling this story, and I hope I don’t get in trouble for this, but I’m going to do this a little differently today.”

Going off script, Hamilton recounted how his wife, 13 weeks pregnant with their second child, began experiencing severe bleeding and pain. At the local emergency clinic, doctors prescribed the medication misoprostol and sent her home, despite the fact that she needed a dilation and curettage (D&C) procedure to complete the miscarriage.

“What she needed was a procedure called the D&C. What she got was a prescription for a drug called misoprostol, and they sent her back home, where we were supposed to complete the incomplete miscarriage at home on the toilet — that in itself is barbaric,” Hamilton said.

When the medication failed to work, Hamilton’s wife had to make multiple trips to different hospitals, only to be turned away because the doctors feared legal repercussions from performing the necessary D&C procedure. It wasn’t until she was on the verge of death from blood loss that a hospital finally agreed to provide the life-saving care.

“A woman can only bleed for so long. I will never forget picking up her cold, limp body and wondering if she was dead,” Hamilton said, his voice breaking with emotion.

Hamilton warned that this tragedy could become a reality for many other families in states that have enacted strict abortion bans, like the one in Texas, and urged New Hampshire residents to vote for candidates who will protect reproductive rights and ensure women have access to the medical care they need, regardless of the circumstances.

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“There are times in our lives when we have to show up. I rescued my wife when she needed to be rescued, I would hope any husband or father would do the same. It is our duty to protect and rescue the women we love in their time of need. This is one of those times you wouldn’t stand idly by while your wife or sister or daughter was bleeding to death. So why would you vote for anyone who thinks that that is perfectly acceptable?” 

New Hampshire Republicans instituted the first abortion ban in the state’s history in 2021, and  medical providers who violate the ban face up to seven years in prison and a fine of between $10,000 and $100,000, some of the harshest criminal penalties in the nation.

Democratic House lawmakers passed a bill to remove those penalties in 2023, but Senate Republicans voted unanimously to defeat the bill.

Republicans in the New Hampshire House this year also proposed a 15-day abortion ban — essentially a complete ban in the state — one in a long series of efforts to roll back abortion rights in the state.

New Hampshire also has no shield laws that protect providers who perform abortions for out-of-state residents whose home states ban abortion.

The issue of abortion has become a leading one in New Hampshire this election cycle especially in the governor’s race, with Republican Kelly Ayotte bearing a long record in support of rolling back abortion rights, including votes to ban abortion nationwide and defund Planned Parenthood.In 2014 Ayotte demanded a vote on legislation that would have enacted a national abortion ban. It also excludes  her vote in favor of the Blunt amendment, which would have allowed insurers and employers to deny coverage of IVF treatments, birth control, and more.