Harris says Trump and abortion ban to blame for death of Georgia woman

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Vice President Kamala Harris said on Tuesday a Georgia woman's death could have been prevented if the state did not have an abortion ban, and pinned the blame on Republican presidential rival Donald Trump.

At least two women in Georgia have died after they could not access abortion-related medical care in their state, investigative news outlet ProPublica reported Monday.

Amber Nicole Thurman, 28, died in August 2022 following complications after she took an abortion pill, and "suffered from a grave infection that her suburban Atlanta hospital was well-equipped to treat," the news outlet said, citing reports from a state committee that called her death "preventable."

"This young mother should be alive, raising her son, and pursuing her dream of attending nursing school," Harris, the Democratic nominee for the Nov. 5 presidential election, said in a statement Tuesday.

"This is exactly what we feared when Roe was struck down," she said. "These are the consequences of Donald Trump’s actions."

Trump as president named three of the Supreme Court justices who overturned the Roe v. Wade ruling on abortion, fulfilling a promise he made when he campaigned in 2016. Since the 2022 decision, Georgia and about dozen other U.S. states have passed laws banning or severely limiting abortion rights.

"President Trump has always supported exceptions for rape, incest, and the life of the mother, which Georgia's law provides. With those exceptions in place, it’s unclear why doctors did not swiftly act to protect Amber Thurman’s life," Trump campaign press secretary Karoline Leavitt said.

Trump has said that he believes abortion rights should be decided by states and include those exceptions.

An official state committee concluded that Thurman's death was preventable, ProPublica reported. Doctors and a nurse involved in Thurman's care did not respond to questions about her treatment, it said.

The Supreme Court decision and subsequent state abortion laws have resulted in multiple complaints against hospitals and doctors alleging they are refusing to treat women for pregnancy complications.

Women in Texas have asked U.S. health authorities to investigate local hospitals for denying them abortions for dangerous ectopic pregnancies, and women in Idaho, Tennessee and Oklahoma have filed lawsuits alleging they were denied abortions despite suffering life-threatening pregnancy complications.

(Reporting by Doina Chiacu and Timothy Reid; Editing by Heather Timmons and Deepa Babington)