For more than a year, we’ve been writing about pregnant women who died in states that banned abortions after Roe v. Wade was overturned. And we have sought to better understand which women are most likely to suffer because of these new laws.
Many of the early cases we discovered involved rapidly developing emergencies. While the woman was having a miscarriage, a procedure was needed to quickly empty the uterus, but tragically it was not done in time.
However, such dangerous miscarriages are known to be relatively rare events. Far more common, experts say, are high-risk pregnancies, many of which are caused by underlying health problems. Every year, hundreds of thousands of women become pregnant with chronic conditions, putting them at increased risk of long-term complications and even death. For people living in states that have banned abortion, options are now severely limited.
Our report found that abortion bans typically do not include exceptions to cover these types of health concerns, or when they do, doctors do not take advantage of the exceptions.
Instead, an exception is made for “the life of the mother.” In practice, this often means that doctors will not take action unless there is strong evidence that the patient is very likely to die. Anti-abortion activists have opposed efforts to create broader health exceptions to cover a range of medical risks that women may face during pregnancy. They argue that such exceptions are too permissive, allowing nearly anyone to obtain an abortion. One person testifying at the Idaho Statehouse suggested that patients with headaches could get abortions.
Over the past few months, we’ve reported on two recent cases that help illustrate how this narrow view of women’s health issues can be life-or-death.
Tierra Walker is a 37-year-old dental assistant and mother from Texas who discovered she was unexpectedly pregnant in the fall of 2024. She was hospitalized because her blood pressure could not be controlled, and her condition continued to worsen as she became pregnant and became unwell. She became increasingly fearful for her health as she battled seizures and developed dangerous blood clots. Her blood pressure remained dangerously high, which doctors continued to note. her family told ProPublica.
Walker knew abortion was illegal in Texas, but like many people, she thought hospitals could make exceptions for patients like her whose health was clearly at risk.
Instead, the family said that no doctor advised her of the options or health benefits of abortion, despite Walker repeatedly asking whether she should terminate the pregnancy to protect her health. More than 90 doctors were involved in her treatment, according to medical records.
On her 15th birthday, Walker’s son found her draped in her bed. At 20 weeks pregnant, she died of pre-eclampsia, a dangerous pregnancy-related blood pressure disorder.
We reviewed her medical records with more than a dozen obstetricians and gynecologists from around the country, and they said Ms. Walker’s death was preventable. They described her condition as a “ticking time bomb” and said severe pre-eclampsia was a predictable outcome. They were concerned that Ms Walker was never offered the option of terminating her pregnancy. The doctors who treated her did not respond to requests for comment, and the hospital she visited did not comment on her treatment.
In another case we reported on last week, in North Carolina in 2023, 34-year-old Sieggi Graham learned she was newly pregnant at the same time her heart condition began to deteriorate. Her heart rhythm became faster and irregular. But instead of offering to shock her heart, a treatment Graham had previously received, her cardiologist said that could not be done because she was pregnant, according to medical records and text messages.
More than a dozen experts who reviewed her claims for ProPublica said this is false. This procedure is called electrical cardioversion and is safe during pregnancy. A second cardiologist did not perform an electrocardiogram to confirm her heart rate was normal, which experts said was best practice, and sent her home. None of the doctors involved in her treatment responded to questions. A spokeswoman for Cone Health, where Graham regularly went for treatment, said the company’s treatment of pregnant women with underlying heart conditions is consistent with accepted standards of care in this region.
Graham’s heart was pounding, he couldn’t sleep, and he was short of breath. Although the risk of death was low, she wanted to protect her health and believed an abortion was her best option. She already had a son, but the birth was complicated by her illness. She wanted to undergo a procedure that could cure her heart disease before having another child.
Abortion up to 12 weeks of pregnancy remains legal in North Carolina, but lawmakers recently enacted a 72-hour waiting period that requires two in-person visits, leaving clinics crowded. Abortion clinics in Graham’s town were also flooded with patients from neighboring states that had adopted stricter abortion bans.
The earliest appointment Graham could get was two weeks away.
She didn’t have time to wait that long. Four days later she died.
Neither of these mothers had access to the care they needed. By the time the emergency arrived, it was too late.
