“Every time a voter has had the opportunity to protect abortion access through a ballot measure, they have done so,” said Sara Tabatabaie, executive director of Vote Pro-Choice, a political advocacy group that supports abortion access. According to ProPublica, which said Barnica had reviewed her hospital and autopsy records and interviewed her family. Barnica died of an infection in 2021 after doctors waited until there was no detectable heartbeat before terminating her miscarriage. Barnica died just days after a state law called SB 8 went into effect, which effectively banned abortion care once a fetal heartbeat could be detected, about six weeks into pregnancy.

After the law went into effect, the number of Texas women who died during pregnancy, labor or shortly after birth skyrocketed, NBC News reported.

After the Supreme Court's Dobbs decision in 2022, a stricter ban went into effect in Texas, banning all abortions except to save a woman's life or prevent “significant impairment of a major bodily function.” Crain's death was linked to that ban because she, too, could not receive timely treatment for a miscarriage, ProPublica reported based on a review of 800 pages of her medical records. According to ProPublica, Crain developed an infection and became septic. NBC News has not independently verified the circumstances surrounding Crain's or Barnica's deaths.

Christus Southeast Texas St. Elizabeth Hospital, which treated Crain, said it “believes this patient's care was appropriate and compassionate at all times.” HCA Healthcare, the hospital network where Barnica was treated, said its ” “The focus remains on providing the best care possible for our patients” and that physicians “use their extensive training and experience to exercise their independent medical judgment.” Amy O' Donnell, communications director for the Texas Alliance for Life, said ProPublica's reporting would amount to “misinformation”.

“Monthly data show that doctors in Texas have routinely performed life-saving abortions in rare cases where a mother's life was at risk or there was a significant risk of impairment of a major bodily function,” she said in a statement.

Regarding the Georgia deaths, ProPublica reported in September that 28-year-old Amber Thurman suffered a rare complication in 2022 after taking abortion pills but did not receive timely medical care after a heartbeat was detected due to Georgia's ban on abortions. According to ProPublica, that same year, 41-year-old Candi Miller didn't seek medical attention because of concerns about Georgia's abortion law and then died after she experienced complications from her home abortion. ProPublica said it obtained reports on each patient's death from a state committee, reviewed medical and autopsy files and spoke to their families. NBC News has not independently verified the details of these reports.

Jaylen Black, vice president of marketing communications for Planned Parenthood Southeast – which operates health centers in Georgia – said that unfortunately the stories were not surprising and that additional deaths most likely went unreported.

“This is real life. Mothers lost their lives. “Their children are now growing up without their mothers because of our state’s abortion ban,” Black said.

Dr. However, Ingrid Skop, vice president and director of medical affairs at the Charlotte Lozier Institute, an anti-abortion rights group, blamed “poor medical care and fear-mongering” for the deaths in Georgia and Texas.

“As a gynecologist currently practicing in Texas, the quality of medical care I provide has not changed since Texas passed its pro-life law, nor has the law prevented me from seeing my patients in emergencies to look after,” said Skop.

Of the abortion-related measures on state ballots, the most consequential are in Arizona, Florida, Missouri, Nebraska and South Dakota, as they could repeal existing abortion restrictions. Laws in Missouri and South Dakota are the strictest, banning almost all abortions. Florida bans most abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy, while Nebraska's restrictions apply to abortions after 12 weeks and Arizona's restrictions apply to abortions after 15 weeks, each with a few exceptions.

“The people of Florida have a real challenge ahead of them to get 60% of the vote,” Vote Pro-Choice’s Tabatabaie said, citing the support threshold the state’s abortion ballot measure must overcome.

But she added that her organization is optimistic about the chances of many initiatives: “We're heading into Election Day with a really good feeling.”