PHOENIX (AZ Family) — During the campaign period Proposal 139Some Arizona women shared: stories She described how the state’s 15-week abortion ban led to delays in emergency treatment that harmed their health. However, it is not yet known whether an Arizona woman died due to delays associated with the ban.

And it can take years to learn this. The state committee examining maternal deaths is still working on cases from years before the ban comes into effect in December 2022. Even then, doctors say, it’s not a given that this information will be made public.

In the past few months, ProPublica has reported that four pregnant women have died after women were denied care in states where abortion is illegal: two inside Georgia And two inside Texas.

Even in states with medical exemptions to protect the “mother’s life,” many doctors complained that the laws were vague and put them at risk of prosecution if juries second-guessed their actions. Some doctors say hospital lawyers have intervened to delay care out of fear of legal repercussions from the bans.

D., director of Camelback Family Planning, a clinic that provides abortions in Phoenix. “If they have a heartbeat and it’s lasted longer than 15 weeks, they probably won’t be able to get any care,” Gabrielle Goodrick said. “It’s pretty vague. The lawyers in these hospitals and the doctors in these hospitals can’t take action to save people’s lives. They’re risking their licenses and other things.”

If you have information about a woman who died due to lack of abortion care in Arizona, please email [email protected].

In Arizona, all deaths during pregnancy are reviewed by a group of experts called the Maternal Mortality Review Committee (MMRC). The committee determines whether the death was preventable and whether patient care played a role. His latest reportThe report, published in January 2024, covered deaths from 2018 to 2019.

If the committee maintains this timetable, it will not publish data from the first year of the abortion ban through 2027.

An ADHS spokesperson said the committee does not release data specifically on maternal deaths resulting from lack of access to abortion. Instead, the MMRC determines how much maternal death is preventable and provides generalized information about common behaviors and causes, such as homicide, suicide, mental health or substance abuse, cardiovascular or bleeding.

“Given the variety of conditions or causes that may contribute to death during or after pregnancy, it may not be clear to what extent the ability or lack of access to abortion contributes directly or indirectly to the death of the pregnant or postpartum mother.” the agency said in a statement.

But leaked documents from Georgia’s maternal mortality committee appear to informed ProPublica’s report. These committees, established in each state, do not publish detailed information about individual patients.

In the case of a person’s death in Texas, ProPublica said it reviewed the patient’s medical files with nine independent doctors. All nine people said the doctor made a mistake by sending the woman home with signs of sepsis.

“Sending a septic patient home gives me goosebumps to think that a doctor could do that. This is clearly malpractice,” said Arizona Obstetrician Dr. Greg Marchand, who did not review patient files.

Supporting Arizona’s 15-week ban, Dr. Marchand said he suspects medical errors contributed to the deaths. He pushed back on the notion that the medical exemption in the Arizona law is vague.

“As a board-certified OB-GYN, this argument is truly quite insulting. The idea that OBGYNs are afraid or that we don’t understand the law and as a result may be afraid to provide care. “That’s not the case,” he said.

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