General Discussion

About every 28 days, a woman's ovaries release an egg that travels down the Fallopian tube into the uterus where, if she has sexual contact with a man, the egg is fertilized . . . and you know the rest.

HOWEVER -- in some cases, the egg is fertilized while it is still in the Fallopian tube. The Fallopian tube is tiny -- about the size of a #2 pencil lead. The fertilized egg starts growing from 1 cell to 2 to 4 to 8 . . . and soon it has grown so that is much too big for the Fallopian tube and the egg ruptures. The result is extreme pain, vaginal bleeding, and if it's not "cleaned up" quickly sepsis can develop and spread and the woman may die from sepsis.

I'm an EMT with a volunteer rescue squad in a rural VA county. In 14 years I have been dispatched to one emergency that turned out to be ectopic pregnancy. I don't ever want to witness another one. Pain so severe I had to administer morphine -- a dose so large I had to call the ER doc for permission to use that much morphine. Bleeding -- on the floor next to her was a trash can containing three sanitary pads, each filled with blood. Followed by calling a helicopter -- 20 minute wait -- to transport her to a medical center.

And the goddam white men in the Texas legislature and every other Republican-controlled legislature do not give a damn.