Pregnant Texas teen dies after three emergency room visits due to medical effects of abortion ban | Texas

A pregnant Texas teenager died after three separate visits to an emergency room while trying to get treatment. In another incident that highlighted the medical impact of the loss of abortion rights in the US.

Nevaeh Crain, 18, went to two different emergency rooms within 12 hours of each other in October 2023 and each time she returned home feeling worse than before. Crain wasn't diagnosed with strep throat until her first visit. According to a report by ProPublica, the hospital did not investigate her severe abdominal cramps.

Crain is one of at least two Texas women who died as a result of the state's abortion ban, which was imposed after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the federal right to abortion. Josseli Barnica, 28, died in 2021 after a miscarriage.

These incidents are seen as evidence of a new reality in which U.S. health care workers in states with new strict abortion restrictions are hesitant or even afraid to care for pregnant mothers for fear of legal repercussions. Texas' abortion ban threatens prison sentences for procedures that stop the fetus' heartbeat, regardless of whether the pregnancy is wanted or not.

Medical records show that during her second visit, Crain tested positive for sepsis, a potentially life-threatening condition. But doctors still gave her permission to leave the hospital after apparently confirming that her six-month-old fetus still had a heartbeat.

On her third visit to the hospital, Crain was eventually transferred to the intensive care unit after an obstetrician insisted on two ultrasounds to “confirm fetal death,” ProPublica reported.

She died hours later as a result of organ failure. A nurse noticed that her lips had become “blue and dull,” ProPublica said. The teenager would have turned 20 this Friday.

Although Texas has exemptions for life-threatening illnesses, the fear and uncertainty among doctors about which treatments can and cannot be considered criminal is having a devastating impact on women who need medical care.

The result is that in states with abortion bans, patients are often transferred between hospitals to avoid responsibility and argue over legalities, an act that wastes valuable and potentially life-saving time.

“Pregnant women have essentially become untouchables,” Sara Rosenbaum, professor emeritus of health law and policy at George Washington University, told ProPublica.