AUSTIN (NEXSTAR) — A new report The report, released Wednesday, details the story of a 28-year-old Texas woman who died of an infection after doctors claimed a miscarriage delayed her treatment by nearly 40 hours, reigniting concerns about the state’s strict abortion laws.

Josseli Barnica arrived at a Houston hospital on Sept. 2, 2021, while she was 17 weeks pregnant, suffering from severe cramping and bleeding, according to nonprofit investigative news outlet ProPublica. The next day, an ultrasound confirmed a miscarriage.

However, Barnica reportedly told her husband that doctors could not intervene.

“They had to wait until there was no heartbeat,” the unnamed husband told ProPublica in Spanish. “It would be a crime to give her an abortion.”

According to the report, while she was waiting, Barnica’s cervix remained open and her uterus was exposed to bacteria. When the fetal heartbeat could no longer be detected, she delivered the fetus with medical assistance and was discharged later the same day.

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As her condition worsened on September 7, Barnica’s husband brought her back to the hospital, where she died due to a sepsis infection.

Barnica’s story has renewed concern that Texas’ abortion ban does not give doctors enough autonomy to treat pregnancy complications.

Rep. Colin Allred, the Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate who has made abortion access a central tenant of his campaign, used Barnica’s story as a critique of Sen. Ted Cruz’s anti-abortion stance.

“Josseli Barnica should have been alive today, but because of Ted Cruz’s draconian abortion ban, Texas women have been denied the life-saving health care they need,” Allred wrote on social media.

Cruz called the story “heartbreaking” but said Texas law enforcement was not to blame.

“I read the story here and the facts of the case seem heartbreaking. “It’s truly a tragedy that this woman lost her life,” Cruz told reporters after a rally in Georgetown on Wednesday.

“Texas law makes clear that whatever action is necessary to save a mother’s life can and should be taken,” Cruz added. “We do not know the full details of what happened here, but it is critical that we do everything necessary to save the mothers’ lives, and we sympathize with the family for the tragedy that occurred here.”

Texas law bans abortion in almost all casesrape or incest without exception. Doctors could be punished with six-figure fines, loss of their medical license and prison time for performing abortions.

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If abortion is permitted under the law, “provided that reasonable medical judgment is used,” the pregnant person has a life-threatening condition resulting from or aggravated by the pregnancy that creates a risk of death or serious impairment of a major bodily function. Abortion is necessary.

The doctors sued, arguing that the language was too vague, claiming that the standard of “reasonable medical judgment” was too subjective to allow them to act freely without worrying about their own liability.

In May, the Texas Supreme Court rejected those concerns. deciding that exceptions to the abortion ban are acceptable and allowing abortions before emergencies.

“The law does not require a woman to give up her life or suffer serious bodily injury before an abortion can be performed,” the court said.

According to the Texas Politics Project’s October poll, 7% of voters in Texas say abortion/women’s rights is the most important issue for their vote, behind the economy, immigration/border security and inflation/cost of living.

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