Five Texas women who were denied abortions despite serious complications filed a lawsuit late Monday against the conservative state’s abortion laws, AFP reports.

The lawsuit is the first filed by women denied abortions since the U.S. Supreme Court struck down abortion rights in June, according to the Center for Reproductive Rights, which represents them.

It “contains horrific stories of women who nearly lost their lives after being denied care,” said Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris, who offered her support in a statement Tuesday.

The women who will speak at the press conference today wanted to carry their pregnancy to term, but during a medical examination, they discovered that their fetuses were not viable.

In their complaint, they claim their doctors refused to perform abortions despite the risk of bleeding and infection.

Tough Texas Laws / Weak Law Enforcement

They blame their reluctance on the various abortion laws in Texas, one of which carries up to 99 years in prison for doctors who violate the ban.

Those laws allow for exceptions in the case of “risk of death or serious disability to the mother,” but the plaintiffs say they are too vague.

One of them, Amanda Zurawski, 35, had her water break at 17 weeks, too early for the fetus to survive. However, the hospital where she was admitted waited until she showed signs of infection three days later before removing the fetus.

According to the complaint, she developed septicemia, spent several days in intensive care and lost one of her fallopian tubes as a result of the denial of care.

Another, Lauren Miller, was pregnant with twins when she learned one of the fetuses was non-viable.

Despite the risks to her own health and the development of another fetus, the medical staff did not want to abort the non-viable fetus, and she had to travel to Colorado at her own expense to have the procedure done.

Still pregnant, to give birth at the end of the month.

At 18 weeks, Lauren Hall discovered that her fetus did not have a skull and would not survive. She had to travel to Seattle to terminate the pregnancy.

Unlike other complaints filed by doctors or associations since June, this appeal does not challenge the abortion ban, but asks the courts to “clarify the scope of the exceptions.”