By Valerie Richardson - The Washington Times - Tuesday, September 17, 2024

Vice President Kamala Harris highlighted a news story Tuesday about a Georgia woman who died after taking abortion pills, blaming former President Donald Trump for delays in her medical treatment that reportedly contributed to her death.

Ms. Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, said that Amber Nicole Thurman “should be alive, raising her son, and pursuing her dreams of attending nursing school.”

“This is exactly what we feared when Roe was struck down,” she said in a statement. “In more than 20 states, Trump Abortion Bans are preventing doctors from providing basic medical care.”

The candidate was reacting to a Tuesday report in ProPublica about Thurman that said she died in August 2022, about a week after taking the two pills in the abortion protocol. Her boyfriend called 911 after she vomited blood and passed out.

She was taken by ambulance to Piedmont Henry Hospital in Stockbridge, Georgia, where doctors waited 20 hours before performing a dilation and curettage, or D&C, a routine procedure used in abortions but also to remove fetal tissue after miscarriages and undelivered placental tissue after childbirth.

The hospital’s maternal review committee said there was a “good chance” that the 28-year-old Thurman would have survived if doctors had performed the D&C earlier, according to the report, which said her death was deemed “preventable.”

“It is not clear from the records available why doctors waited to provide a D&C to Thurman, though the summary report shows they discussed the procedure at least twice in the hours before they finally did,” the ProPublica article said.

Even so, the report pointed the finger at Georgia’s heartbeat law, known as the LIFE Act, which bans abortions after about six weeks’ gestation with several exceptions, including in cases of “medical emergency” to prevent the death of the mother or “substantial and irreversible” physical harm.

The law went into effect after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June 2022, a ruling that sent decision-making on abortion to the states.

“Just that summer, her state had made performing the procedure [D&C] a felony, with few exceptions,” the article said. “Any doctor who violated the new Georgia law could be prosecuted and face up to a decade in prison.”

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp spokesperson Garrison Douglas said that the state was unable to comment or confirm the details surrounding Thurman’s death, citing patient privacy laws, but blasted the spread of “dangerous misinformation.”

“Every life is precious, including that of Amber Nicole Thurman, which is why we support life at all stages in Georgia,” Mr. Douglas said.

“While some may seek to use her passing to spread dangerous misinformation that fosters confusion, fear, and risks patients’ lives, we remain committed to protecting and defending the lives of the most vulnerable among us,” he said.

The pro-life group Live Action called the ProPublica statement “demonstrably false,” saying that “D&Cs aren’t illegal in any state unless used to intentionally kill a child in the womb.”

“It is falsehoods like this one that mislead women into believing that every D&C is an abortion and that every D&C procedure—regardless of what it’s for—is illegal under pro-life laws,” said the Live Action fact-check. “D&Cs are not prohibited. Deliberately killing a baby using a D&C procedure is.”

Katie Daniel, spokesperson for Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, pointed to the state-published manual “Abortion: A Woman’s Right to Know,” which spells out the details of the state’s abortion law.

“No state law, including Georgia’s, prevents a hospital from treating a woman in a medical emergency. It says so in the FIRST PARAGRAPH of GA’s right to know booklet,” Ms. Daniel wrote on X. “Removing the remains of already deceased babies is NOT an abortion.”

Pro-life advocates said the article also reinforces concerns about the abortion pill process, including the rising number of women seeking treatment at emergency rooms after taking the pills, which now account for a majority of U.S. abortions.

“Amber Thurman’s story is a tragedy. She and her twins should be here today,” Ms. Daniel said. “The reality is abortion drugs are inherently dangerous. The FDA knows this, which is why the drug label warns about the deadly complications she suffered — infection and sepsis.”

ProPublica said that “Thurman’s case marks the first time an abortion-related death, officially deemed ‘preventable,’ is coming to public light,” adding that the story of a second death will be published in the next few days.

After learning she was pregnant with twins, Thurman drove four hours to a North Carolina clinic to obtain a surgical abortion, but was prescribed abortion pills — mifepristone and misoprostol — after she was delayed by traffic and missed her appointment.

She was nine weeks pregnant. In 2000, the Food and Drug Administration approved mifepristone for terminating pregnancies up to seven weeks’ gestation, but extended the cutoff to 10 weeks’ gestation in 2016.

“At first, there was only cramping, which Thurman expected. But days after she took the second pill, the pain increased and blood was soaking through more than one pad per hour,” ProPublica said. “If she had lived nearby, the clinic in North Carolina would have performed a D&C for free as soon as she followed up, the executive director told ProPublica. But Thurman was four hours away.”

Thurman was placed on an IV drip and given antibiotics, as well as a blood pressure medication, but doctors “continued to gather information and dispense medicine” instead of “performing the newly criminalized procedure,” ProPublica said.

“Although no doctor has been prosecuted for violating abortion bans, the possibility looms over every case, they said, particularly outside of well-funded academic institutions that have lawyers promising criminal defense,” the article said.

Ms. Harris warned that if the Republican Trump is elected, “he will sign a national abortion ban and these horrific realities will multiply.” Mr. Trump has said he would not sign a national ban and would leave the issue to the states.

• Valerie Richardson can be reached at vrichardson@washingtontimes.com.

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