Texas supposedly allows doctors to terminate pregnancies when the mother’s life is in danger. But when Roe v. Wade was overturned in 2021, experts warned that our laws are so poorly written that doctors would refuse to treat pregnant women experiencing life-threatening emergencies for fear of imprisonment or losing their license. Now, reporting by ProPublica shows those predictions were true.
ProPublica released a pair of reports last week telling the stories of Josseli Barnica, a 28-year-old living in Houston, and Nevaeh Crain, an 18-year-old from Vidor, Texas. Both women were excited to be pregnant and looked forward to giving birth. Both experienced complications. Both made multiple trips to emergency rooms with high temperatures, vomiting, and bleeding. Both were sent home by doctors who were afraid to treat them. Both died of sepsis.
Sepsis is the body’s reaction to infection. It quickly leads to organ failure and death, so it is standard medical procedure to immediately treat anyone showing signs of sepsis. Before the Dobbs decision allowing states to ban abortion, doctors were free to do that when pregnant women came to emergency rooms with the condition.
“The amazing thing to me is that, prior to Dobbs, doctors were intervening with best medical practice in cases like these all the time, with no one questioning it – no one questioning it,” said state Rep. Donna Howard, D-Austin. “Even in our Catholic hospitals, it was standard operating procedure to use their medical judgment as to when was the best time to do that, to hopefully save the life of the developing fetus – perhaps, at that point, a viable infant – but certainly to save the life of the mother. That was standard, no questions asked.”
“The amazing thing to me is that, prior to Dobbs, doctors were intervening with best medical practice in cases like these all the time, with no one questioning it.” – State Rep. Donna Howard, D-Austin
Now, Texas doctors must consider the laws governing abortion, of which there are several. The two most relevant ones were passed in 2021. The first, known as the “trigger law,” prohibits abortions from the moment an egg is fertilized. Doctors found guilty of violating the trigger law can be sentenced to 99 years in prison and a minimum $100,000 penalty. Then there’s the so-called “heartbeat law.” It prohibits doctors from performing an abortion if the fetus still has a heartbeat, no matter how unviable the pregnancy is. If doctors violate the heartbeat law they are subject to two to five years in prison. The law also has a disturbing and unusual provision – which the U.S. Supreme Court has declined to review – allowing private citizens to file lawsuits against anyone who helps a woman get an abortion.
ProPublica reports that in Josseli Barnica and Nevaeh Crain’s cases, doctors could still detect fetal heartbeats, even though both patients were vomiting, running high fevers, and unable to stand. The doctors and hospitals refused to respond to a detailed list of questions from the reporters.
Howard strongly suspects the heartbeat law caused Barnica and Crain’s deaths. She said there is no need for it, because the trigger law already prohibits abortion from the moment of fertilization. She is hoping to introduce legislation in the upcoming session of the Texas Legislature to fix the problem but doesn’t yet have the language for a bill and isn’t certain her Republican colleagues would be willing to support it.
Howard, who chairs the Texas Women’s Health Caucus, stressed that the Legislature must clarify when doctors can use the medical exception clause in the trigger law to save the life of a pregnant mother. Since Dobbs, doctors have pleaded with the Texas Supreme Court to create comprehensive guidelines to let them do their jobs. Howard said the Texas Supreme Court referred the matter to the Texas Medical Board, which essentially said it wouldn’t touch it.
“It went to the Texas Supreme Court, who punted it to the Texas Medical Board, who punted it back to the Legislature, so it’s in our laps again,” Howard said. “The Medical Board basically said, ‘This is what’s in statute. You need to follow what’s in statute. If there’s more clarification needed, the Legislature needs to do that.’ So it’s up to us to make that clarification. Whether or not we will be doing that depends on the outcome of the November elections, depends on the outcome of the House speaker election, depends on all kinds of things.”
In the meantime, Howard joins other advocates across the state in wondering just how many more women the Republican policies have killed, and will kill. “I am devastated,” she said. “I’m astounded. Being someone who came of age before Roe v. Wade, and taking these things for granted for the past half-century, to see this happening now is just horrifying.”
This article appears in November 8 • 2024.
