Journalists in the USA revealed another death of a woman, which was apparently contributed to by the ban on abortion

Such a development was feared by many critics who, when bans were introduced in recent years, objected that the exceptions to protect the life of the mother are vaguely formulated and put doctors in a very tricky position.

Over the past two years, the American media has documented dozens of stories of women who experienced complications with pregnancy and could not get the necessary care. In recent months, cases that ended in death have also come to light.

First in September, ProPublica reported on two deaths in Georgia, which experts attributed to the local ban on abortion, now describes a third similar case in Texas. In most cases, these women did not want to end the pregnancy, but they had an abortion for various reasons.

Even Porsha Ngumeziová, whose death ProPublica describes in the latest article, did not want an abortion. Last June, after 11 weeks of pregnancy, the mother of two children ended up in a hospital in Houston, where she needed two transfusions due to bleeding. The ultrasound did not detect a heartbeat in her fetus, and the doctor advised her to take misoprostol, which helps the body eliminate tissue from the uterus. The obstetrician called it a routine step. However, the bleeding did not stop and Ngumeziova died three hours later.

More than a dozen experts, with whom the journalists shared records of the hospitalization, said that her death could have been prevented. According to these doctors, it was clear that Ngumezi needed a procedure known as a D&C, in which tissue is surgically removed from the uterus, which usually stops the bleeding. “Misoprostol does not take effect quickly enough after 11 weeks,” commented gynecologist Amber Truehartová, who works at the University of New Mexico.

The D&C procedure, or uterine curettage, is a completely common element in the care associated with pregnancy, but because it can be associated with artificial abortion, it has become the target of laws restricting abortion. In the already mentioned Georgia, its performance is classified as a crime, with some exceptions.

According to the ProPublica group, Texas doctors say that the local abortion ban has changed the perspective of their colleagues and that some are afraid to perform the procedure, or are discouraged by the new requirement that it be approved by hospital management. Some health professionals send patients to other hospitals, which delays the necessary care, or choose non-standard procedures. And this happens even in cases where the fetus has no heartbeat or for other reasons the ban on abortion should not apply to the given situation, writes ProPublica.

“Pregnant women have become essentially untouchable,” said health law expert Sara Rosenbaum, who is a professor emeritus at George Washington University.

Abortions are currently prohibited in almost all circumstances by 13 American states, with less strict restrictions in several others. Republican Party politicians began implementing these restrictions after the US Supreme Court in 2022 overturned the federal right to abortion until fetal viability and returned the matter to state legislatures or Congress.