Sepsis. Delays. Death. Black women like Porsha Ngumezi are dying in the state ranked worst in the nation for health care access.
Three years after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, clearing the way for Texas’s total abortion ban, the consequences are no longer theoretical; they are fatal. Porsha Ngumezi, Josseli Barnica, and Nevaeh Crain died of sepsis after suffering delays in care while experiencing pregnancy loss. Their stories are part of a documented rise in maternal deaths and life-threatening infections that accelerated after Texas fully implemented its abortion ban following the Dobbs decision, as exposed in a landmark 2025 investigation by ProPublica.
Just this month, a new report from the Commonwealth Fund ranks Texas worst in the nation for health care access and affordability. The crisis is hitting Black and Latino Texans hardest, from skyrocketing uninsured rates to avoidable deaths from delayed care.
Shellie Hayes-McMahon, Executive Director of Planned Parenthood Texas Votes, said:
“This is what state-sanctioned neglect looks like. Women like Porsha, Josseli, and Nevaeh didn’t die because of rare conditions, they died because lawmakers criminalized standard medical care and created a culture of fear inside hospitals.
The Dobbs decision gave Texas the green light to enforce its total abortion ban. What followed was a spike in sepsis and a rise in maternal deaths. We are now seeing the results: more maternal deaths, more preventable suffering, and a health system collapsing under political extremism.
Texas can’t afford another year of this, much less another life lost. PPTV will make sure Texans remember who put these cruel policies in place—at the ballot box and beyond. This ban won’t go unchecked.”
Brianna Brown, Co-Executive Director of Texas Organizing Project, added:
“What’s happening in Texas isn’t an accident, it’s a strategy. A strategy to control our bodies, silence our voices, and abandon our communities. Black and Latino Texans are dying because politicians would rather score points than protect people.
But we are not standing by. We are knocking doors, testifying, voting, and organizing until we have a state that values our lives, not just our labor or our pain. Texas belongs to the people, and we’re fighting like it.”
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The Texas Organizing Project organizes Black and Latino communities in Dallas, Harris, Bexar, and Fort Bend counties with the goal of transforming Texas into a state where working people of color have the power and representation they deserve. Learn more at organizetexas.org.
Planned Parenthood Texas Votes (PPTV) is the nonpartisan policy, advocacy and political arm for the Planned Parenthood affiliates in Texas.