Gabriela Gonzalez had been dating her abusive boyfriend, Harold Thompson, for four months in the spring of 2023 when she got pregnant.

Police records show that Thompson had physically abused Gonzalez several times throughout their relationship, including when she was pregnant. Thompson strangled Gonzalez and recklessly caused bodily injury in a December 2022 incident, according to court records. She told her family she wanted to leave him, but she was terrified.

He was so angry that she wanted to get away from him, Mileny Rubio, Gonzalezs sister, told a local Dallas outlet . She would always tell me that she wanted to leave, but that she couldnt.

Gonzalez knew she couldnt continue the pregnancy because she did not want to be tied to her abuser for the rest of her life. But she lived in Dallas, Texas, where by last spring, abortion had been banned for nearly a year. So she drove to Colorado at least an 18-hour journey there and back to get an abortion.

The day after Gonzalez returned, Thompson found out about the abortion and confronted her in a gas station parking lot. Surveillance video, described in a police report, shows Thompson put Gonzalez in a chokehold before she was able to shrug him off. Thats when Thompson pulled out a gun and shot Gonzalez in the head. The video shows Thompson firing several more bullets into Gonzalezs body before fleeing. He was charged with murder and is awaiting trial.

Gonzalez, like so many other domestic violence victims in Texas, faced an increased risk of violence from her abusive partner and a higher likelihood he would kill her because of the states decision to loosen gun laws and completely restrict access to abortion. Her story reflects the three systemic crises converging in Texas that are creating a deadly new normal for women. Each has resulted from a deliberate policy created by right-wing state lawmakers.

The leading cause of death among pregnant and postpartum women in the U.S. is homicide, most often by an abusive partner with a gun. Pregnant and postpartum women are more than twice as likely to be murdered than to die from sepsis, hypertensive disorders or hemorrhage.

Experts tell HuffPost other states with abortion bans are also seeing an increase in domestic violence, but Texas stands out for a few reasons. The state was the first to severely restrict abortion in 2021, forcing women to stay pregnant nearly a year before Roe fell and exposing domestic violence victims to more violence with fewer ways to escape. At the same time, the Lone Star state has the largest rate of gun sales in the country and continues to have lax firearm restrictions. The state is so firearm friendly that gun rights groups chose it as the testing ground for a Supreme Court case that will determine if domestic abusers get to keep their guns.

In the last decade, the amount of women shot and killed by an abuser has nearly doubled in Texas.

Even though Gonzalez was able to get an abortion, her abuser still had access to a firearm. Women who travel more than 150 miles to get an abortion are more likely to experience physical violence from an abuser than those traveling less than 50 miles. Gonzalez, who leaves behind three young children, traveled at least 500 miles on the last trip of her life.

HuffPost spoke with a dozen people working in advocacy services in the state ranging from abortion funds and family attorneys, to shelter directors and hotline staff who believe that the states abortion bans coupled with its lax gun laws are fueling intimate partner violence. Survivors and advocacy workers are terrified that this new normal will lead to more dead women in Texas: The state has made it easier for a man to obtain a gun to kill his partner than it is for a woman to access abortion care.

Domestic Violence Victims Are Especially Vulnerable To Abortion Bans

For Holly Bowles, a sexual assault victim advocate working in Texas, the hardest part of her job is telling someone theyre pregnant.

Bowles and her colleagues at SAFE Alliance, which is based in Austin, normally see people in the immediate aftermath of an assault. They serve around 6,000 Texans every year who have experienced emotionally and physically devastating violence. The nonprofit works with survivors of child abuse, human trafficking, intimate partner violence and sexual assault. Their hotline, which hears from around 2,000 callers a month, connects people to housing assistance, legal services or to advocates like Bowles, who can support a victim through a rape kit exam or legal trial.

Around half of the survivors Bowles supports have experienced intimate partner violence, or are still in active situations. Most of the victims she sees can take emergency contraception after they finish the forensic exam, but for women in abusive relationships, some may already be pregnant from a prior assault by their partner. And they might not know it.

Recently, a staff member on Bowles team was sitting with a woman during a rape kit exam when the advocate had to tell her she was pregnant. This was actually the fifth time I believe that her partner had gotten her pregnant intentionally so that she would stay, said Bowles, who works as the director of SAFEs sexual assault victim advocacy program.

Before Roe v. Wade fell in 2022, Bowles could connect victims with abortion clinics or even schedule an appointment for them. Now with a total abortion ban in effect in Texas, as well as a law criminalizing those who help people seeking care, Bowles has to tread extremely carefully.

Its very difficult to think about, in that immediate moment, what we can and cant talk about, she said. Were very limited in the things that we can do if someone does find themselves in that situation because of the laws in Texas.