Vice President Kamala Harris , while on the campaign trail Tuesday, highlighted the tragic death of Georgia mother Amber Thurman, 28, who died as a result of not being treated for complications from a medication abortion shortly after the overturning of Roe v. Wade in June 2022.
Thurman, whose son was six years old at the time of her death, is the first recorded case of pregnancy-related death after presenting at a hospital with severe complications following the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision.
“This young mother should be alive, raising her son, and pursuing her dream of attending nursing school,” said Harris in reaction to the publication about Thurman's story by ProPublica on Monday.
Harris used Thurman’s death as an example of the consequences of former President Donald Trump ’s role in appointing three justices to the Supreme Court, which led to the Dobbs decision.
Here is everything you need to know about Thurman's death and pregnancy complications in states with abortion bans.
What happened to Amber Thurman?
Thurman pursued an abortion shortly after the Dobbs decision came down and Georgia’s law prohibiting induced abortion after six-weeks gestation took effect.
Hospital records obtained by the outlet confirmed Thurman was approximately nine weeks pregnant with twins when she was given the abortion agent mifepristone at a clinic in North Carolina.
She took the second abortion agent, misoprostol, the next day, as per protocol.
On the evening of Aug. 18, 2022, several days after her North Carolina appointment, Thurman presented at the hospital with bleeding and signs of a severe infection due to retained pregnancy tissue, or what is medically called “retained products of conception.”
There was no fetal cardiac activity detected when Thurman presented at the hospital, meaning that the fetuses were no longer alive and Thurman was no longer pregnant.
How was Thurman treated when she arrived at the hospital?
American Association of Pro-Life OBGYNs said, in reaction to the case, that “any first-year resident could make” the diagnosis that this was an infection due to an incomplete abortion, the standard of care for which is immediate antibiotics and a dilation and curettage, also known as a D&C.
A D&C involves dilating the patient’s cervix and surgically removing the retained products of conception by scraping the inside of the uterus. The process is used to treat both natural miscarriages and induced abortions.
But Thurman only received antibiotics three hours after presenting with infection symptoms and a D&C was not performed until approximately 20 hours after she arrived at the hospital in critical condition. She died on the operating table during the procedure.
“This is one of the most clearcut cases of medical malpractice (based on the information available publicly) that we have ever seen,” said AAPLOG in an X post reviewing Thurman’s case. “Standard of care on her arrival was IMMEDIATE D&C and initiation of antibiotics. Had this been done, she most likely would be alive today.”
AAPLOG is a professional medical association that is explicitly anti-abortion and was involved in the litigation against the Food and Drug Administration ’s approval of mifepristone.
The American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology , which supports no legal restraints or gestational age limits for abortion, has not weighed in on Thurman's case. Planned Parenthood has also not commented on Thurman's death.
Were Thurman’s complications from mifepristone and misoprostol rare?
The FDA's warning label for mifepristone includes an estimate that between 2.9% and 4.6% of medication abortion patients will seek emergency treatment due to fatal infection or sustained bleeding.
With the nearly 643,000 medication abortions in the United States in 2023, that equates to approximately 20,000 emergency room visits for medication abortion patients.
Mifepristone works by disrupting the progesterone receptors to the developing fetus, preventing the fetus from continuing to grow. The second chemical agent in a medication abortion, misoprostol, induces contractions to expel pregnancy tissue and should be taken one day after ingesting mifepristone.
Medication abortion, also called chemical abortion or self-managed abortion, is only FDA approved for the first 10 weeks of pregnancy.
What is Harris saying about Thurman’s death?
Harris said Thurman’s death and other similar cases are the “consequences of Donald Trump’s actions.”
“Women are bleeding out in parking lots, turned away from emergency rooms, losing their ability to ever have children again. Survivors of rape and incest are being told they cannot make decisions about what happens next to their bodies. And now women are dying,” she said.
Harris has repeatedly blamed Trump for the more than 20 states that have enacted abortion bans at various points in pregnancy following the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision, which Harris has dubbed “Trump Abortion Bans.”
Did Georgia law prevent doctors from saving Thurman?
AAPLOG maintains that the reading of Georgia’s anti-abortion statute does not prohibit performing a D&C in the case of abortion pill complications or miscarriage complications.
“Amber Thurman's state of Georgia clearly allows physicians to intervene in medical emergencies or when there is no detectable fetal heartbeat, both of which applied to her,” said Dr. Christina Francis, AAPLOG CEO, in a statement. “Don’t be misled by those who advocate for induced abortion over the health and safety of women.”
Pro-abortion legal scholars argue, however, that the statutory definitions of abortion post-Dobbs have been difficult for doctors to navigate even two years after the decision came down, let alone within weeks of the landmark Supreme Court decision.
Although Thurman is the first known death due to failure to treat abortion complications in the post-Dobbs era, dozens of women in several states with gestational age limits on abortion report being turned away from receiving care when faced with pregnancy-related emergencies.
What would this mean for a federal abortion law?
Harris said she will sign a federal law protecting abortion access because “lives depend on it,” juxtaposing herself to Trump, who she says will sign an abortion ban as president.
“If Donald Trump gets the chance, he will sign a national abortion ban, and these horrific realities will multiply,” said Harris.
During the debate between Trump and Harris earlier this month, Trump distanced himself from his running mate's, Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH), claims that he would veto any federal abortion restrictions should he be reelected president in 2024.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Both Trump and Vance have maintained their support for the post-Dobbs arrangement of states making their own decisions about abortion policy. They have also both supported access to mifepristone, which has been the subject of intense controversy during the election cycle.
Neither Trump nor Vance have commented directly on Thurman’s case.
Local News
