Her life-saving abortion would have been a “crime”

Happy Halloween, Meteor readers,

And a happy Diwali to those celebrating, as well. I wish I had something fun and spooky to offer on this eve when the veil between worlds is thinnest, but honestly, the regular news is scary enough. So, let’s get straight into it.

Maiden, mother, crone,

Shannon Melero 🔮

WHAT’S GOING ON

“Natural causes”: A new report from ProPublica released earlier this week investigated the preventable death of Josseli Barnica, a Texas mother who died from an infection in 2021 after doctors delayed treatment of her miscarriage. Despite the fact that doctors had confirmed that Barnica was miscarrying her 17-week-old fetus, they declined to intervene on Barnica’s behalf because it would be, as one doctor relayed to her, “a crime to give her an abortion.”

Barnica was forced to spend 40 hours waiting for the fetus’ heart to stop before she delivered it shortly after. She died three days later from “sepsis due to acute bacterial endometritis…following a spontaneous abortion of a 17-week stillbirth fetus,” her autopsy shows.

Underneath the cause of death, Barnica’s is listed as “natural.”

Her death may have been technically natural, but it was also very much man-made. She died from negligence, from fear, and because she lived in a state with the country’s oldest abortion ban on the books. Yes, Texas’ ban has provisions that allegedly allow for an abortion to preserve the life of the mother. And yet what we have here is one more dead mother. The pile of corpses is getting higher, and still, we have to listen to pundits and Donald Trump himself pretend that these tragic stories are mere fantasy or unrelated events.

Bluntly, the GOP—one of the two most powerful political parties in the country—simply does not care about preserving anyone’s life. Don’t give them the chance to do this to someone else.

AND:

• Over the last year, the Biden administration has chosen not to take action on nearly 500 reports claiming that Israel has used U.S.-supplied weapons in “attacks that caused unnecessary harm” to civilians, The Washington Post reports. Despite agreements between the U.S. and Israel that the arms would be used for self-defense and not to target civilians, one legal adviser told the Post that the U.S. is “ignoring evidence of widespread civilian harm and atrocities to maintain a policy of virtually unconditional weapons transfers to the Netanyahu government.”

• Missouri is on the brink of becoming the first state to overturn a total abortion ban and enshrine abortion rights in its constitution. But, as with all the important races this year, everything hinges on voter turnout. You know what to do.

• Of all the many stories surrounding Election Day, here’s a huge one that has gone largely unnoticed: Next Tuesday, residents of Puerto Rico will go to the polls to vote on the island’s longest-standing issue, its sovereignty status. (They are also electing a new governor.) The options are independence, statehood, or free association (similar to independence but still sharing ruling power with the colonizing nation). Because the vote is non-binding, it will not immediately alter Puerto Rico’s status. Instead, it will signal Puerto Ricans’ desires to Congress, which will then be responsible for setting the wheels in motion to either grant freedom or initiate statehood proceedings. While Puerto Rico has voted on its status before, this year has been very different, thanks to an active youth movement hoping to shape the gubernatorial election and the long-term future of the island.

WEEKEND READING 📚

On work: After years of dismissing the girlboss, have millennials overcorrected? Maybe, says our own Samhita Mukhopadhyay. (Bustle)

On divisions: Trump’s anti-immigrant messaging is expertly designed to sow even more division between Black and Latino voters. And it’s working. (The New York Times)

On deviants: “I am delighted to inform you that all monsters are gay.” (Slate)

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