Texas Woman Dies After Hospital Denies Abortion Care
A 22-year-old Texas woman has died after being denied an abortion at a hospital, according to her family and attorneys. The woman, Lizelle Herrera, was six weeks pregnant when she went to the emergency room at Methodist Mansfield Medical Center on January 18th with severe abdominal pain. Herrera told the hospital staff that she was pregnant and experiencing vaginal bleeding, but they refused to provide an abortion, citing the state's new abortion law, which bans the procedure after six weeks of pregnancy.
Hospital's Actions Spark Outrage
Herrera's death has sparked outrage from reproductive rights advocates, who say that the hospital's failure to provide an abortion care when Herrera needed it directly led to her death. "This is a preventable tragedy," said Amy Hagstrom Miller, CEO of Whole Woman's Health, a reproductive health care provider in Texas. "Lizelle Herrera's death is a direct result of the Texas abortion ban and the hospital's refusal to provide her with the care she needed."
Texas Abortion Law Under Fire
The Texas abortion law, known as Senate Bill 8 (SB 8), was passed in September 2021 and went into effect on September 1, 2021. SB 8 bans abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, even in cases of rape or incest. The law also allows private citizens to sue anyone who "aids or abets" an abortion, including doctors, nurses, and even family members of the pregnant person.
SB 8 has been widely criticized by reproductive rights advocates, who say it is unconstitutional and violates the Supreme Court's precedent that protects the right to abortion until fetal viability, which is typically around 24 weeks of pregnancy.