Oct 30, 2024
Mom DIES After Being Denied An Abortion
Josseli Barnica died after doctors reportedly told her that they could not perform an abortion while she miscarried her pregnancy.
- 10 minutes
Doctors in the state of Texas have been
delaying emergency care for women
who are experiencing miscarriages and need
an emergency abortion as a result.
And since they're delaying care,
some of these women are tragically dying.
[00:00:15]
That's one of the recent stories
that was published in ProPublica.
They specifically profiled a woman
by the name of Jocelyn Barnechea,
who is tragically one of the women in
Texas who was experiencing a miscarriage,
needed an emergency abortion.
[00:00:32]
But the doctors were so afraid
that they would get prosecuted for
performing the abortion that they delayed,
delayed, delayed before it was too late.
So this tragic story began
on September 3rd of 2021.
[00:00:48]
Jocelyn Barnechea was 17 weeks pregnant
with a pregnancy that she wanted a child
that she was looking forward
to delivering and having.
And in the process of miscarrying.
She was rushed to the hospital.
Now the fetus was on the verge
of coming out, its head pressed
[00:01:06]
against her dilated cervix.
Doctors noted in hospital records
at that point, doctors should have offered
to speed up the delivery or empty her
uterus to stave off a deadly infection,
more than a dozen medical experts
told ProPublica.
[00:01:25]
But according to her husband,
when he left work and rushed to the
hospital, he arrived to the hospital.
He claims that she told him, quote,
they had to wait until there was no
heartbeat, he told ProPublica in Spanish.
It would be a crime
to give her an abortion.
[00:01:44]
Now let's pause and just revisit
what Texas's anti-abortion laws are.
They have a fetal heartbeat or fetal
heartbeat law, which indicates that as
soon as there is detection of a heartbeat,
which is around six weeks,
[00:01:59]
and it's not even a fully formed heart.
And it's not a heartbeat,
it's electrical activity.
But as soon as you hear something
that might be a heart, then that's it.
No abortion, no abortions are allowed
unless the pregnancy
is threatening the life of the mother.
[00:02:15]
So there are some exceptions.
But the problem is, the exceptions don't
really work out the way that these
more moderate right wingers think they're
going to work out when they carve
out these exceptions for abortion bans.
[00:02:31]
And so what ends up happening
is when you threaten the doctors with
severe penalties and prosecution, well,
they're going to avoid performing
the abortion because they're going to be
more concerned about avoiding prosecution.
[00:02:46]
And they fear the possibility
of losing everything they worked for,
including their medical licenses.
And so that's what that's exactly what
happened here for 40 hours, the anguished
28 year old mother prayed for doctors
to help her get home to her daughter.
[00:03:04]
All the while,
her uterus remained exposed to bacteria.
I know there's a lot of men watching.
We have a male dominant audience,
and I know that these are
difficult things to hear about,
but this is what women go through.
[00:03:20]
Pregnancy is not an
easy process for women.
It goes beyond just being
inconvenient or uncomfortable.
Oftentimes, there can be complications.
Oftentimes, if those complications
aren't dealt with appropriately, a woman
can die from an infection from sepsis.
[00:03:37]
And that's what happened here.
Three days after she delivered
the, you know, unviable fetus,
Barnett died of an infection.
She had sepsis.
And the official cause of death
on the medical records indicate
[00:03:54]
that she died of sepsis involving products
of conception because they didn't give her
the abortion she needed to prevent
the infection from taking place.
Now look again.
Proponents of Texas's, you know,
anti-abortion laws argue that there are
these exceptions, but in practice,
these exceptions don't really work.
[00:04:14]
Veronica's death was preventable,
according to more than a dozen
medical experts who reviewed a summary
of her hospital and autopsy records
at Propublica's request.
They called her case horrific,
astounding and egregious.
[00:04:29]
What was what was the point
of these anti-abortion laws?
Again, it was to save lives, right?
That was the argument.
Here's the only statement ProPublica
was able to get from the hospital
that denied Monica the life saving
emergency abortion that she needed.
HCA healthcare said, our responsibility is
[00:04:49]
to be in compliance with applicable state
and federal laws and regulations,
and said that physicians exercise
their independent judgment.
But, you know, this chain of hospitals
refuses to disclose what their policy are.
[00:05:04]
Policies are in regard to these
emergency abortions for miscarriages.
Some HCA shareholders have also asked
why the company hasn't, like,
prepared a report on the risks to
the company related to the abortion bans
[00:05:20]
in the state of Texas
or in other states they might operate in
that have banned abortion.
They argue that, hey, you know what?
This could actually help
the patients understand what services
they can expect from the doctors.
If there are certain circumstances,
like a miscarriage that would require
[00:05:37]
an emergency abortion,
but get a load of this.
Hca's board of directors opposed the
proposal, partly because it would create
an unnecessary expense and burdens with
limited benefits to our our stockholders.
[00:05:54]
The proposal was supported
by 8% of shareholders who voted.
Got to look out for the shareholders, man.
Gotta look out for those investors.
Money before people,
investors before people.
I mean, you know how the story goes.
[00:06:11]
Is this supposed to be
the moral path forward?
I'm serious.
Like I really do want conservatives
to answer that question.
Is this really the moral way
of handling women's reproductive health?
And if you are a conservative watching,
I'm I'm genuinely curious,
[00:06:28]
what is your stereotype of women and why
they would want to keep abortion legal?
You know, the Roe standard ensured
that abortion was legal up to viability.
Viability, meaning, you know, a fetus that
could actually survive outside the womb.
[00:06:45]
So I just want to understand
when the fetus isn't even viable.
What's more important?
Protecting the woman's life?
Or is the woman's life
not that important at all?
We just need to have these
ridiculous bands to save what I mean?
[00:07:03]
I mean, seriously, to save the fetuses
that a lot of women
are going to go out of their way
to abort in illegal ways if they have to.
I mean, that's what happened in the past
when abortion was illegal nationwide.
[00:07:18]
That's what's been happening now.
I just, you know, a lot of people think
that the abortion pill is the magic
solution to all of this, and I'm
happy that the abortion pill is available.
But the abortion pill has complications
as well, because if you take the abortion
[00:07:34]
pill, you're in the comfort of your
own home and you abort a fetus that way.
Well, sometimes complications
arise from that as well.
And a woman might need to seek
medical attention to avoid an infection
as a result of that as well.
But if you live in a state
where you're worried about prosecution for
[00:07:52]
getting an abortion or aborting a fetus.
Are you going to seek
that medical attention
or are you going to be afraid to do so?
I just think that these laws
are not well thought out, and they seem
to have a complete misunderstanding
as to why abortion and reproductive health
[00:08:11]
is considered health care.
I think that there are a lot
of stereotypes out there
about women just willy nilly,
having all sorts of unprotected sex with
all sorts of men, and then using abortion
as a form of birth control.
[00:08:26]
Many of the medical professionals
ProPublica spoke to noted that Barnicle's
story was actually similar to a story
that went viral some years ago.
So a 31 year old woman who died of
septic shock back in 2012 after providers
in Ireland refused to empty her uterus
while she was miscarrying at 17 weeks
[00:08:47]
when she begged for care,
a midwife told her, quote,
this is a Catholic country, end quote.
The resulting investigation
and public outcry galvanized the country
to change its strict ban on abortion.
But that's not what's happening here
in the United States, unfortunately.
[00:09:04]
The nation's largest for profit hospital
chain has said it delivers more babies
than any other health care provider
in America, and 70% of its hospitals are
in states where abortion is restricted.
And in the U.S.,
there are again, no efforts to reform some
[00:09:22]
of these terrible laws and bans that have
been implemented in states like Texas.
Now, luckily, in the state of Florida,
voters will be able to vote on
a ballot measure that will allow them to,
protect reproductive rights
[00:09:38]
as part of their state constitution.
I'm really crossing my fingers
for the state of Florida.
I hope they make the right decision.
And in the past,
they have voted very liberally
on certain ballot initiatives, including
raising the state's minimum wage.
So I have faith in the voters of Florida.
Please do the right thing.
[00:09:54]
Please protect women, protect reproductive
rights because it is health care.
And Texas isn't the only state
that's grappling with injustice
related to these abortion bans.
Last month, ProPublica told the stories
of two Georgia women,
Amber Thurman and Kandi Miller,
[00:10:11]
whose deaths were deemed preventable
by the state's Maternal Mortality
or Mortality Review Committee after they
were unable to access legal abortions and
timely medical care amid an abortion ban.
It's a depressing story, to say the least.
[00:10:27]
I hate where we are as a country, but
the only way to fight back is electorally.
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