Hospital Location Influences Health Outcomes for Miscarrying Women in Texas Post-Abortion Law

The fate of a woman experiencing a miscarriage may hinge not only on the state she resides in but also on the location of the hospital she seeks care from. Texas implemented its abortion law in 2021, prohibiting the procedure even in non-viable pregnancies. The state further threatened doctors with imprisonment and hospitals with penalties for providing such care unless a life-threatening emergency existed. Consequently, medical personnel have faced restrictions in assisting women miscarrying until they could document an imminent mortal danger to the patient. A new analysis by ProPublica has now revealed that hospital location often determined whether these women suffered from sepsis, a potentially fatal response to infection. Sepsis cases among Texas women who experienced second-trimester pregnancy loss surged by over 50% after the state’s abortion ban took effect. However, when these women sought treatment at hospitals in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, where doctors were empowered to intervene proactively, that rate decreased to 29%. In contrast, within Houston, where hospital legal departments advised doctors to delay treatment until severe infection could be documented, the sepsis rate escalated to 63%.