When Roe v. Wade was overturned in June of 2022, reproductive rights were left up to the states to individually decide how they would manage this aspect of women’s health. Currently, 13 states have an abortion ban with nearly or absolutely no exceptions. Because of this, women are dying from complications that could be solved with procedures that are newly illegal in the states they live in. California currently protects a woman’s right to reproductive healthcare.
“The number of women in Texas who died while pregnant, during labor or soon after childbirth skyrocketed following the state’s 2021 ban on abortion care — far outpacing a slower rise in maternal mortality across the nation, a new investigation of federal public health data finds,” says NBC News. “From 2019 to 2022, the rate of maternal mortality cases in Texas rose by 56%, compared with just 11% nationwide during the same time period, according to an analysis by the Gender Equity Policy Institute.”
In Georgia, during Fall of 2022, Candi Miller, a mother of three, discovered she was pregnant. Previously being told by her doctor that she could die if she got pregnant again due to several health complications (including Lupus), she opted to terminate her pregnancy with abortion pills she found online. According to ProPublica, “Georgia’s new abortion ban gave her no choice. Although it made exceptions for acute, life-threatening emergencies, it didn’t account for chronic conditions, even those known to present lethal risks later in pregnancy.”
The pills terminated the pregnancy but failed to expel all the pregnancy tissue from her body. Afraid to seek proper care in her home state with strict abortion laws, Miller died in her home with her three year old by her side. The state’s maternal-mortality review deemed her death preventable.
“Of course I can see how it is wrong to kill something before it even gets a chance at life, but I don’t think that that should get in the way of a woman who is alive and still has a chance to save themselves,” says QUEST junior Lily Gonzalez.
There are several other cases similar to Miller’s, while not all were fatal, women were left with severe complications. In many of the cases, the mother was not looking to terminate their pregnancy at all.
Nevaeh Crain, an 18 year old girl, was one of these women. Twenty hours and three visits to the ER after what was supposed to be the day of her baby shower, Crain would die in a Texas hospital room. She came in violently vomiting and in severe abdominal pain. Doctors positively tested her for strep, but failed to test her further. Even after being sent home, Crain was still in severe pain, so she went to another hospital but was once again sent home with more antibiotics.
Back home Crain was still in severe pain and after a trip to the bathroom, Crain realized her worst nightmare came true, she miscarried her baby from effects of the still undetected infection in her body. Even though her health was rapidly declining from the untreated infections, Texas’s strict abortion laws require confirmation of the demise of the fetus before conducting any procedures. By the time they moved her to intensive care, it was too late. Doctors say she died of sepsis, which she had failed to be tested for even though symptoms pointed to this conclusion.
The reason abortion laws are being blamed for the death of women like Nevaeh Crain and Candi Miller is because not only are women afraid of seeking proper care in states where abortion bans are in place, but doctors are afraid of prosecution if they were to conduct an illegal procedure. For instance, the multiple ultrasounds that were ordered to confirm the death of Crain’s baby were an effort to ensure the death of the fetus before moving forward with the now illegal procedure of an abortion.
Neveah Crain and Candi Miller are only two instances of complications with abortion bans and with President-elect Donald Trump promising to leave abortion on the ballot, they certainly will not be the last.
