States with abortion on the ballot report deadly consequences

Residents of 10 states will vote on Tuesday abortion-related ballot measureshalf of which will lift existing restrictions. A few weeks before the elections, in which Access to abortion was a central issueThere have been numerous reports of the life-threatening consequences of the strict laws against him.

ProPublica reported last week these two texan women died after facing delays in getting help for a miscarriage due to the state’s abortion ban. Coverage by ProPublica in September linked two deaths to Abortion ban in Georgia.

In response to the most recent reports, a group of obstetricians and gynecologists told Texas officials and politicians in an open letter that two women — Jossely Barnika, 28, and Nevaeh Crane, 18, who died — should still be alive.

“The nature of Texas’s strict abortion ban prevents us as health care providers from doing our jobs,” they wrote. “The law prevents Texas women from getting the life-saving care they need.”

Texas and Georgia are not among the 10 states that have passed measures to protect or expand abortion rights. But reproductive rights advocates told stories about the consequences of abortion bans resonate with voters in any part of the country.

“Every time a voter has had the opportunity to protect abortion access through a ballot measure, they have done so,” said Sarah Tabatabaei, executive director of Vote Pro-Choice, a political advocacy group that supports abortion access. According to ProPublica, which said he reviewed her hospital and autopsy records and also interviewed her family. Barnika died from an infection in 2021 after doctors waited for her miscarriage to stop until there was no longer a detectable heartbeat. Barnika died just days after a state law known as SB 8 took effect, effectively banning abortions once a fetal heartbeat can be detected around the sixth week of pregnancy.

After the law was passed, the number of Texas women who died during pregnancy or childbirth or shortly after childbirth increased sharply. NBC News reports..

Following the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision, a stricter ban took effect in Texas in 2022, banning all abortions except to save the woman’s life or prevent “substantial impairment of a major bodily function.” Crane’s death was related to the ban because she, too, was unable to get timely help for a miscarriage, ProPublica reported based on what it called an analysis of 800 pages of her medical records. According to ProPublica, Crane developed an infection and became septic. NBC News has not independently verified the circumstances surrounding Crain’s or Barnika’s deaths.

St. Elizabeth Christus Hospital of Southeast Texas, which treated Crane, said it “believes that the care provided to this patient was appropriate and compassionate at all times.” HCA Healthcare, the hospital chain where Barnika was treated, said its “focus remains on providing the best possible care for our patients” and that doctors “use their extensive training and experience to make independent medical judgments.” Amy O’Donnell, communications director for the Texas Alliance for Life, said ProPublica’s reporting constituted “misinformation.”

“Monthly data shows that doctors in Texas consistently perform life-saving abortions in rare cases when the mother’s life is at risk or there is a significant risk of impairment of a major bodily function,” she says the statement.

Regarding deaths in Georgia, ProPublica reported in September that Amber Thurman, 28, suffered a rare complication in 2022 after taking abortion pills but not receiving timely medical care due to Georgia’s ban on abortions after a heartbeat was detected. In the same year, Candy Miller, 41, did not see a doctor over concerns about abortion laws in Georgia, and then died after experiencing complications from an at-home abortion, according to ProPublica. ProPublica reported that it obtained state committee reports on each patient’s death, reviewed medical and autopsy records, and spoke with their families. NBC News has not independently verified the details of these reports.

Jaylen Black, vice president of marketing communications for Planned Parenthood Southeast, which operates health centers in Georgia, said the stories were unfortunately not surprising and that the additional deaths likely went undetected.

“This is real life. Mothers died. Their children are now growing up without mothers because of our state’s abortion ban,” Black said.

But Dr. Ingrid Skop, vice president and medical director of the Charlotte Lozier Institute, an anti-abortion group, blamed the deaths in Georgia and Texas on “substandard medical care and fearmongering.”

“As an OB/GYN currently practicing in Texas, the quality of care I provide has not changed since Texas passed the pro-life law, and the law has not prevented me from caring for my patients in emergency situations,” Skop said.

“Yes on 3” signs outside the Missourians for Constitutional Freedom office in Kansas City on Oct. 26. Arin Yoon/The Washington Post via Getty Images file

Of the abortion-related measures on the state ballot, the most significant measures are in Arizona, Florida, Missouri, Nebraska and South Dakota, as they could overturn existing restrictions on abortion. Missouri and South Dakota have the strictest laws, banning almost all abortions. Florida bans most abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, while Nebraska’s restrictions cover abortions after 12 weeks and Arizona’s after 15, each with some exceptions.

“The people in Florida have a real challenge ahead of them: they have to get 60% of the vote,” said Tabatabaei of Vote Pro-Choice, referring to the threshold of support the state must pass on the abortion ballot issue.

However, she added that her organization is optimistic about the chances of many of the initiatives: “We feel very good heading into Election Day.”

This story originally appeared on NBCNews.com.