Abortion Ban Claims Another Life: Tragic Death Sparks Outrage as Harris Points Finger at Trump
Abortion Ban Linked to Preventable Death in Georgia, Official Report Finds
Vice President Kamala Harris [Reuters]
State’s First Official Evaluation of Female Death After Abortion Ban Implemented 2 Years Ago: ‘Preventable’
As abortion becomes a key issue ahead of the November presidential election, a state-level assessment suggests a woman who died in Georgia in 2022 may have died due to delayed access to care caused by the state’s abortion ban.
According to American media, including the internet non-profit media outlet ProPublica, Amber Nicole Thurman (then 28 years old) died in August 2022 while undergoing surgery for rare complications from abortion pills.
The U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, which guaranteed federal abortion rights, in June 2022. Georgia then enacted a law in July of that year banning abortions after six weeks of pregnancy and making it a felony to provide the procedure.
Thurman was six weeks pregnant with twins at the time and took a prescription abortion pill in neighboring North Carolina in compliance with Georgia’s abortion ban.
She later suffered a rare complication that rapidly worsened, but surgery was delayed for 17 hours in Georgia over concerns about possible punishment under the state’s abortion ban, and she died during emergency surgery.
An official Georgia commission determined the death was ”preventable,” making it the first abortion-related death the government has assessed as preventable, ProPublica reported.
Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential candidate, issued a statement criticizing the move, saying, “This is exactly what we feared when Roe v. Wade was struck down,” and “This is the result of Donald Trump’s actions.”
Former President Donald Trump, the Republican presidential candidate, said in a debate that the Supreme Court, which includes conservative justices appointed by him, overturned the Roe v. Wade ruling that protected abortion as a constitutional right, allowing states to make decisions about abortion.
He claimed at the time that it was “what everyone wanted.”