Who is Josseli Barnica? Texas woman dies after being denied abortion care

A woman who died after suffering a miscarriage in a Texas hospital has been named as Josseli Barnica.

She’s the latest woman whose deadly experience with restrictive abortion laws is making headlines – here’s what we know about who she was and what happened to her.

After supreme court overthrow Roe v. Wade in 2022, each state was given the power to set its own abortion laws, some more restrictive than others. Since then, more stories have emerged about how these laws have affected the health care provided to pregnant women.

In September of this year, Georgia woman Amber Thurman, who died after not receiving timely medical attention, was called the first “preventable” abortion death. as these different states have brought bans on the non-profit investigative journalism site ProPublica reported at the time.

Now, ProPublicareviewed a summary of Barnica’s medical records and revealed the story of the 28-year-old mother, who died in 2021 after miscarrying at 17 weeks of pregnancy at HCA Houston Healthcare Northwest.

While 2021 was before the overthrow Roe v. Wadeit was after Texas passed SB 8, which bans abortion after six weeks of pregnancy.

The midwife should have been offered an intervention to hasten the birth or empty her uterus, said several medical experts, including ob-gyn Dr. Leilah Zahedi-Spung. ProPublica.

HCA Healthcare, the hospital chain that operates HCA Houston Healthcare Northwest, told the publication that the doctors exercised independent judgment.

“It is our responsibility to be in compliance with applicable state and federal laws and regulations,” it said. Newsweek contacted HCA Healthcare via email for further comment.

What happened to Josseli Barnica?

On September 3, 2021, Barnica’s miscarriage was “in progress,” with the fetus pressed against the cervix, leaving it exposed to bacteria, according to hospital records cited by ProPublica.

But she was left without intervention for 40 hours because doctors “had to wait until her heart stopped beating” and “it would be a crime to abort her,” Barnica’s husband said he told her after he rushed to her side. .

Barnica died of an infection three days after giving birth, with the cause of death listed as “sepsis due to acute bacterial endometritis and cervicitis following a miscarriage of a 17-week-old (177 gram) stillborn fetus with retained products of conception “.

“Retained products of conception” means tissue that grew during Barnica’s pregnancy and remained after the miscarriage.

Who is Josseli Barnica?

Barnica, who met her husband at a local football match in 2019, was a mother who wanted to give her daughter a brother, ProPublica reported.

She was a Honduran immigrant who lived in Houston and installed drywall to make money, some of which went home to support her mother.

After Barnica’s daughter was born in 2020, she wrote on social media: “God bless my family. Our first Christmas with our princess. I love them.”

How did America react to the death of Josseli Barnica?

As in several other cases of pregnant women dying in states with restrictive abortion lawsoutrage followed the news about Barnica.

The National Abortion Federation was quick to issue a statement, likening Barnica’s story to other women who have suffered what the organization called, “entirely preventable deaths.”

“Josseli Barnica should be alive today,” it said, before adding: “Abortion restrictions and bans do not stop the need for this essential medical care; they only make access more difficult, forcing patients and providers into impossible situations.

“No one should fear access to healthcare and no healthcare provider should fear prosecution for providing the best standard of care.”

LiveAction, a global anti-abortion organization founded by pro-life figure Lila Rose, has not mentioned anything specifically about Barnica’s case.

But on Tuesday, he posted one of his positions, which he has previously supported: “Abortion is never medically necessary. Emergency C-section or preterm birth are standard care practices in medical emergencies. injecting a child with feticide to stop its heart or ripping limbs from its body are not necessary to care for the mother.”

Newsweek has reached out to National Right to Life, America’s oldest and largest pro-life organization, for comment.

Abortion is never medically necessary.

Emergency C-section or preterm birth are standard care practices in medical emergencies.

The extra steps of injecting a child with feticide to stop its heart or ripping its limbs from its body are not necessary to care for…

— Live Action (@LiveAction) October 30, 2024

Abortion more important than immigration to voters

Abortion has long been a major issue in this electionwith Democrats pushing itself as the party of reproductive freedom and warning that Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump plans to introduce a national abortion ban, something he has repeatedly denied.

Last week, abortion surpassed immigration and became the second most important issue for voters, according to the poll conducted by Redfield & Wilton Strategies, on behalf of Newsweek.

Over 16 months, the firm asked 34,800 eligible voters, “What issues are most likely to determine how you vote in the November 2024 presidential election? You can select up to three”.

Only four issues out of 24 were repeatedly selected by more than two in five respondents: the economy, abortion, immigration and health care.

The economy was named the most important election issue for voters in every poll conducted between July 2023 and October this year, regularly cited by around 60% of respondents.

Abortion and immigration both vied for second place throughout the survey, but abortion was the issue that rose the most and overtook immigration in recent months.

Abortion was cited as a key issue by 21% of respondents in the first survey in July 2023 and was cited by 38% of respondents in the most recent survey in October 2024.

In contrast, immigration was cited as a key issue by 30% of respondents in the first survey in July 2023 and was cited by 36% of respondents in the most recent survey in October 2024.