Porsha Ngumezi: Third Texas woman died due to delay in life-saving care following abortion ban
Sugar Land, Texas - Another Texas woman was revealed to have died after medical professionals delayed necessary care now criminalized under the state's six-week abortion ban.
"Today, we are devastated to learn of the preventable death of Porsha Ngumezi, the third woman who was killed by Texas' harmful abortion ban," Marsha Jones, executive director of The Afiya Center, said in a statement.
"Porsha should be here today with her two sons and husband," she continued. "Instead, anti-abortion legislators criminalized lifesaving medical care, deprioritizing the safety of Texans and tragically cutting Porsha's life short."
The 35-year-old wife and mother of two, who sought care in June 2023 at the Houston Methodist Sugar Land hospital for heavy bleeding during a miscarriage, could have been saved had she received a standard dilation and curettage (D&C), medical experts told ProPublica.
In her notes, one nurse wrote that Ngumezi was "continuing to pass large clots the size of grapefruit." When the patient's husband called his mother, a former physician, she said: "You need a D&C."
Nevertheless, the doctor on duty prescribed misoprostol, a medication to help pass the remaining pregnancy tissue.
Ngumezi continued bleeding and died at the hospital.
Texas is "ground zero for reproductive oppression"
D&C is a common procedure used in cases of miscarriage as well as first-trimester abortions. It can save the life of a person experiencing heavy bleeding.
Misoprostol, which experts said would not have been effective in Ngumezi's case, is also one of two drugs employed in abortions, but ProPublica reported that it generally draws less attention.
Although Texas' abortion ban contains exceptions to save the life of the pregnant person, many experts and advocates have warned that the law has made health care providers more hesitant to provide care for fear of punishment, even in extreme cases like Ngumezi's.
Any doctor found in violation of the law faces up to 99 years behind bars.
In addition to Ngumezi, at least two other women – Josseli Barnica and Nevaeh Crain – have died after a delay of life-saving care since Texas instituted its ban.
"Texas continues to be ground zero for reproductive oppression as we witness the ongoing Black maternal mortality crisis and rising infant mortality rates," Jones said.
"The devastating consequences of limiting access to essential medical care are a direct result of the dismantling of Roe v. Wade."
Cover photo: Screenshot/Instagram/@brownporsha