Texas OB-GYNs Beg Politicians to ‘Do Something’ After Deaths of Pregnant Women

A group of 111 OB-GYNs in Texas sent a letter to state leaders on Sunday, urging them to change abortion laws that they say are blocking them from delivering lifesaving care to pregnant women.

They’re begging lawmakers to re-evaluate policies that hinder the most basic function of their jobs: keeping people alive.

“Texas needs a change,” the doctors wrote. “A change in laws. A change in how we legislate medical decisions that should be between a patient, their family, and their doctor.”

The doctors cited ProPublica’s reports last week that two women, Josseli Barnica and Nevaeh Crain, died after hospitals refused or delayed lifesaving treatment due to the state’s restrictions on abortions.

Barnica, 28, tragically died from an infection in 2021, three days after her miscarriage started. More than a dozen experts said she could have been saved, but due to legal roadblocks, doctors believed it would have been a crime to provide life-saving medical care. They waited  until 40 hours had passed and there was no longer a fetal heartbeat. This was despite the fact that she was 17 weeks pregnant, and a miscarriage was already “in progress.”

Crain was just 18, and she developed sepsis while she was six months pregnant. Her fetus had a heartbeat, so two emergency rooms wouldn’t treat her. A third eventually did so — but only once she was already in organ failure. Experts said an earlier intervention might have saved her life.

“Josseli Barnica and Nevaeh Crain should be alive today,” the doctors wrote. “Anti-abortion groups and others are saying blame does not fall on Texas law. That is simply not true. As OB-GYNs in Texas, we know firsthand how much these laws restrict our ability to provide our patients with quality, evidence-based care.”

Dr. Todd Ivey, an OB-GYN who spoke at Vice President Kamala Harris’ reproductive rights rally in Houston last week with dozens of other physicians on stage behind him, was one of the doctors who signed the letter.

“We urge policymakers across Texas to do something to make sure this never happens again,” they added. “Healthcare is on the ballot.”

After the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, Texas banned nearly all abortions. There’s a medical exception for life-threatening situations, but many doctors feel it’s as clear as mud, and when your job is saving lives, vague just doesn’t cut it. If they violate the law, doctors could lose their medical license, face a $100,000 fine, or potentially get a 99-year prison term — and the gray area is leading to deaths.

These laws have already driven some doctors out of the state.

With an election looming, and countless women coming forward to share their harrowing experiences, some OB-GYNs in Texas want change — actual change, not the squint-and-guess kind.