A Texas woman died after being denied treatment for a miscarriage because of an abortion ban, a report says Texas

Just days after Texas banned abortion after the sixth week of pregnancy, a woman died after doctors in the state delayed treatment for her miscarriage by 40 hours, ProPublica reported Wednesday.

Experts told ProPublica that the September 2021 death of Josseli Barnica, a 28-year-old mother, was “preventable.” Barnica is the third woman reported by ProPublica to die in recent years after no access to abortion was possible legal or their medical care is delayed.

Although abortion bans in the U.S.—which more than a dozen states have passed in the two years since the Supreme Court's Roe v I don't know when they will be able to take legal action. Instead, many Doctors say they have been forced to wait until a patient is on the verge of death – and then try to bring him back.

According to ProPublica, Barnica went to the hospital with cramps when she was just over 17 weeks pregnant on September 2, 2021, one day after Texas' six-week abortion ban went into effect. (Texas enacted the ban nearly a year before Roe was overturned; it now bans abortions after conception.) When her bleeding worsened the following day, Barnica returned to the hospital, where a doctor concluded that she had suffered a miscarriage “im underway”. Another soon concluded that a miscarriage was “inevitable.”

Barnica's cervix was dilated by nearly 9 cm, a condition that left her vulnerable to fast-acting infections, ProPublica reported. Typically, in cases like Barnica, doctors will prescribe medication to speed up labor or perform a procedure to empty the uterus.

But Barnica's fetus still had a heartbeat. And under the Texas ban, doctors couldn't intervene unless a “medical emergency” – a term not defined in the law – occurred.

According to the report, doctors were unable to detect a fetal heartbeat about 40 hours after Barnica's second arrival at the hospital. A doctor accelerated her labor with medication and delivered Barnica's fetus. But after she returned home, Barnica's bleeding continued and worsened.

Within days, she was back in the hospital, where, according to her autopsy report, she died of sepsis with “products of conception.” Her widowed husband is currently raising their four-year-old daughter, ProPublica reported.

Several experts, including gynecologists and maternal-fetal medicine specialists, told ProPublica that delaying treatment for Barnica because of the risk of infection violated the medical standard of care. Had she been given options sooner, they told the outlet, Barnica might have survived.

Doctors involved in Barnica's case did not respond to ProPublica's request for comment. In a statement, HCA Healthcare, the hospital chain that treated Barnica, told ProPublica that doctors exercised independent judgment and “our responsibility is to comply with applicable state and federal laws and regulations.”

Abortion and the consequences of banning the procedure have become a major issue in the US election as support for abortion rights has surged in the years since Roe was overturned and dozens of women have come forward to say they were denied necessary medical care. Kamala Harris has made protecting abortion rights a central plank of her political agenda, while Donald Trump and other Republicans have tried to avoid discussing it or have reversed course on the issue.

“My heart breaks for the Barnica family,” Colin Allred, a U.S. representative from Dallas who is running for a Senate seat, posted Wednesday on a key part of his election campaign. “Josseli Barnica should be alive today, but because of Ted Cruz's cruel abortion ban, Texas women have been denied the life-saving health care they need. We can’t afford another six years of Ted Cruz.”

Cruz has recently remained silent on the issue of abortion. He declined comment from ProPublica, as did Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Attorney General Ken Paxton.

In the weeks since ProPublica first reported on two Georgia The women Amber Nicole Thurman and Candi Miller, who died because they could not access legal abortions in their home states, also largely avoided commenting on their specific cases. However, during a Fox News town hall event, host Harris Faulkner told Trump that Thurman's family was holding a press conference.

“We’ll get better ratings, I promise,” Trump joked. The crowd laughed.