Tragic Stories of Abortion Bans Resurfaces Before Ballot Measures 

Tragic Stories of Abortion Bans Resurfaces Before Ballot Measures. Credit | Bloomberg
Tragic Stories of Abortion Bans Resurfaces Before Ballot Measures. Credit | Bloomberg

United States: People in ten states will participate in voting on ballot measures regarding abortion on Tuesday, half of which would repeal current laws. 

Just a few weeks before the election in which controversial decisions related to abortion were the focus, a number of incidental reports related to the life-threatening danger of extreme anti-abortion legislation have been reported. 

More about the news 

Last week, ProPublica detailed the case of two Texas women who died from the consequences of the state’s abortion ban that delayed miscarriage treatment.ProPublica’s coverage in September connected two deaths to Georgia’s abortion ban, NBC News reported. 

In regards to the latest accounts, a group of OB-GYNs warned Texas authorities and policymakers in an open letter that the two women, Josseli Barnica, 28, and Nevaeh Crain, 18, should still be alive. 

Tragic Stories of Abortion Bans Resurfaces Before Ballot Measures. Credit | Getty Images
Tragic Stories of Abortion Bans Resurfaces Before Ballot Measures. Credit | Getty Images

They mentioned, “The nature of the strict abortion ban in Texas does not allow us as medical professionals to do our jobs,” and “The nature of the strict abortion ban in Texas does not allow us as medical professionals to do our jobs,” 

About ballot measures 

Unlike the above-analyzed states, Texas and Georgia do not belong to the ten states with ballot measures that would either protect or expand abortion rights. 

However, leaders in the reproductive rights coalition said that anecdotes about the effects of lost access to abortion also appeal to voters in any region. 

According to Sara Tabatabaie, executive director of Vote Pro-Choice, a political advocacy group that supports abortion access, “Every time a voter has had the opportunity to protect abortion access via ballot measure, they have done it,” NBC News reported. 

https://twitter.com/sbaprolife/status/1853486212499288449

ProPublica noted that reviewing her hospital and autopsy records and talking to her family members, Barnica had pneumonia in 2021 and wrote that doctors did not terminate her pregnancy until no heartbeat could be detected. 

Barnica passed away shortly after a state law called SB 8 was enacted, which prohibited abortion care if a fetal heartbeat is detectable or about six weeks of pregnancy. 

Along with that, Texas women have lost their lives from incidents linked to pregnancy, labor, or within a short time of post-delivering a child at a rate much higher since the law was implemented. 

When the SC gave Dobbs decision in 2022, a more strict ban was taken into place in Texas, banning all abortions except those for saving the lives of women or preventing “substantial impairment of a major bodily function.”