Amber Nicole Thurman should not have died. An official state committee concluded that her death was “preventable” after a Georgia hospital delayed performing a medical procedure known as a dilation and curettage (or D&C) after she experienced complications from an abortion medication. Thurman is believed to be the first official death that has been deemed preventable after the overturning of Roe v. Wade in June 2022.
Who was Amber Nicole Thurman and what happened to her?
Thurman, a single mother to a 6-year-old boy, became pregnant with twins in the summer of 2022, prompting her to get an abortion, ProPublica reported. On July 20, Georgia’s LIFE Act made most abortions after about six weeks a felony — a direct result of the overturning of Roe v. Wade.
Thurman, who was 28, waited for a potential pause of the law, but around the ninth week of her pregnancy, she drove to North Carolina with her best friend Ricaria Baker to receive care. When they arrived at the clinic, it was packed with women from other states in similar situations. Thurman was offered an abortion through FDA-approved mifepristone and misoprostol pills.
Then, days later, Thurman started experiencing complications. The FDA reports that between 2000 and 2022, 32 American women have died after taking mifepristone. In other words, it is rare.
Thurman required a D&C, a procedure during which leftover fetal tissue is removed from the body — and helps treat sepsis. The clinic she visited in North Carolina was a four-hour drive and Thurman’s condition worsened. On Aug. 18, she vomited blood and passed out before being transported to Piedmont Henry Hospital in Stockbridge, GA.
Thurman was diagnosed with “acute severe sepsis,” according to ProPublica. Yet, doctors delayed the removal of the remaining fetal tissue. Instead, they put her on Levophed, a blood pressure medication that put her at risk for amputation. It wasn’t until 20 hours later that doctors took Thurman to the operating room, where she died.
As ProPublica reported, “At least two women have already died after they couldn’t access legal abortions and timely medical care in their state.”
Doctors violating the law face up to a decade in prison. Many have criticized the law for the vague wording of Georgia’s LIFE Act, which bans doctors from using any instrument to remove “a dead unborn child” and prohibits them from “terminating a pregnancy,” according to ProPublica.
In Georgia, Black women are three times more likely to die from pregnancy-related complications compared to white women, according to a study from Zogby Analytics. When D&C procedures were protected under Roe v. Wade, the maternal mortality rate for women of color decreased by 30-40% in the first year after Roe v. Wade went into effect, according to a 2021 study published by Social Science Research Network.
Kamala Harris speaks on Amber Nicole Thurman’s death
Kamala Harris recently made a statement regarding Thurman’s death.
“These are the consequences of Donald Trump’s actions,” Harris said, The Guardian reported. “This young mother should be alive, raising her son, and pursuing her dream of attending nursing school.”
She added, “This is exactly what we feared when Roe was struck down.”
