31/10/2024
Content warning: miscarriage & death
This is Josseli Barnica.
She died as a result of the "pro-life" law enacted in Texas by Greg Abbott and his brown-nosing fawners in the Texas House Republican Caucus.
While these heartless toads love to portray every person needing reproductive care as some play on racist "promiscuity" tropes--a woman using invasive procedures as birth control, in their eyes--often it is women who are already mothers or who are excited to be mothers. And who are now in an already agonizing emotional situation.
Like so many of the names we've learned of because of tragedy (and more specifically state-sponsor/ordained tragedy), who have become hashtags and rallying cries, Josseli leaves behind a family who will never be the same. That's her first child in the picture with her. She was elated to be bringing her daughter a little sibling.
But then she began to miscarry at 17wks. The pregnancy could not continue and the child was lost. In Illinois, doctors would have immediately offered care so that infection could be staved off and so that she could try again some day if she was willing. In Texas, the ambiguity of Governor Greg Abbott's draconian law meant that doctors could not offer the same aid.
She had to wait, in active miscarriage, in agony both physically and mentally, for over 40hrs.
While doctors told her husband that they could do nothing but offer pain meds and emotional support.
She died three days after finally completing her miscarriage, of the exact infections that doctors could predict in this case--the infections which dictate the standard of care in states where Greg Abbott or Brian Kemp or Ron DeSantis or Mike Parson don't actively wage war against women.
If you're thinking this bears a striking resemblance to the Savita Halappavanar case in Ireland, you'd be right, and the ProPublica piece notes that, too. That case changed everything in Ireland.
This case has changed nothing in Texas. Yet.
While it happened in 2021 (meaning that the Barnicas' first child is now four, going on five), it was of course suppressed as much as possible and is only now coming to light.
But this isn't the only case of its kind.
States all across the country who have pushed these draconian measures have seen similar cases, especially when they rushed through extremist-written bills that contained no exceptions. No exceptions for people who have already been violated in the worst kinds of ways. No exceptions for women in danger. No exceptions.
States with reproductive safeguards are seeing an influx of people coming from all over the country in desperation. It's one of the most discussed topics in the meetings of the Planned Parenthood Illinois Action Future of Choice board that I vice chair. These stories are everywhere but are doing nothing to move the right-wing goobers who drafted and passed these bills.
They will fight to stop their citizens from voting on ballot measure to protect reproductive rights and when those citizens pass those measures anyway, those same goobers will look for ways to subvert the will of the people. Meatball Ron has done it multiple times, because he doesn't respect the will of the people.
None of them do.
None of them care about life, either.
They care about birth.
After that, you're on your own.
Josseli Barnica was surrounded by doctors, but she was on her own.
She deserved not to be.
