Photo by Nathaniel St. Clair

“Mrs. Porsha Evette Ngumezi, 35 passed away at Houston Methodist Hospital in Sugarland, TX on June 12, 2023.” So reports the All Families Mortuary.

What the announcement did not report was that over the course of six hours the previous day Porsha had bled so much in the emergency department at Houston Methodist Sugar Land Hospital that she’d needed two transfusions. According to a nurse’s notes, she was “passing large clots the size of grapefruit.” Her husband, Hope Ngumezi, called his mother, a former physician, who told them that, “You need a D&C.” She recommended a “dilation and curettage” procedure because it is often given for first-trimester miscarriages or abortions for it could remove the remaining tissue from Porsha’s uterus and stop the bleeding.

Dr. Andrew Ryan Davis, the obstetrician on duty, informed the couple that it was hospital’s “routine” to give patients “misoprostol,” a drug to induce second trimester fetal death or termination of pregnancy and can also reduce the risk of stomach ulcers. Hope later reported that he trusted the doctor and his wife took the pills. But the bleeding continued, and Porsha died three hours later.

On June 24, 2022, the Supreme Court issued its Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health that overturned its landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade decision. One month later, on August 25th, Texas adopted “Chapter 170A” to its Health & Safety Code that “prohibits a person from performing, inducing, or attempting an abortion.” Exceptions include when a patient’s life or major bodily function is at risk. However, many doctors say they don’t know how to interpret that clause and, if they make the wrong call, they........

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