Texas woman dies after 40-hour wait for emergency room after miscarriage: report

AUSTIN (NEXSTAR) — A new report released Wednesday details the story of a 28-year-old Texas woman who died of an infection after doctors allegedly delayed treating her miscarriage for about 40 hours, reigniting concerns about the state’s strict abortion laws.

Josseli Barnica arrived at a Houston hospital 17 weeks pregnant on Sept. 2, 2021, experiencing severe cramps and bleeding, according to the nonprofit news outlet ProPublica. The next day, an ultrasound confirmed that she had miscarried.

However, Barnica allegedly told the man that doctors could not intervene.

“They had to wait until the heartbeat stopped,” the man, whose name was not released, told ProPublica in Spanish. “Aborting her would be a crime.”

While she waited, Barnica’s cervix remained open, exposing her uterus to bacteria, the newspaper reported. After the fetal heartbeat was no longer detectable, she delivered the fetus with medical assistance and was discharged later that day.

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On September 7, when her condition worsened, Barnika’s husband returned her to the hospital, where she died of sepsis.

Barnicka’s story has renewed concerns that Texas’ abortion ban doesn’t give doctors enough autonomy to treat pregnancy complications.

Congressman Colin Allred, a Democratic candidate for the US Senate who has made access to abortion a centerpiece of his campaign, was quick to use Barnica’s story as a criticism of Senator Ted Cruz’s anti-abortion stance.

“Joseli Barnica should be alive today, but because of Ted Cruz’s brutal abortion ban, Texas women were denied life-saving medical care,” Allred wrote on social media.

Cruz called the story “heartbreaking,” but he said the Texas law was not to blame.

“I’ve read the story here and the facts of the case seem horrific. That this woman lost her life is a true tragedy,” Cruz told reporters after a rally in Georgetown on Wednesday.

“Texas law makes clear that any procedure necessary to save the mother’s life can and should be performed,” Cruz added. “We don’t know all the details of what happened here, but it’s very important that we do whatever is necessary to save the lives of the mothers, and we grieve with the family for the tragedy that happened here.”

Texas law prohibits abortion in almost all casesno exceptions for rape or incest. Doctors can be punished with six-figure fines, loss of medical license and prison time for performing abortions.

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Abortion is permitted under the law if “on the basis of reasonable medical judgment” the pregnant person has a life-threatening condition caused or worsened by the pregnancy that poses a risk of death or serious impairment of a major bodily function, making the abortion necessary.

Doctors have sued, arguing that the wording is too vague, arguing that the “reasonable medical judgment” standard is too subjective to allow them to act freely without worrying about their own liability.

In May, the Texas Supreme Court rejected those concerns, ruling that exceptions to the abortion ban are acceptable and allow abortions before imminent emergencies.

“The law does not require that a woman sacrifice her life or first suffer serious bodily harm before obtaining an abortion,” the court wrote.

According to an October poll by the Texas Policy Project, 7% of likely Texas voters say abortion/women’s rights is the most important issue on their ballot, behind the economy, immigration/border security and inflation/cost of living.

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