Pro-life leaders say the Georgia woman's tragic death has prompted misleading headlines and political posturing from presidential candidate Kamala Harris, and argue the real issue is the abortion pill, not the Georgia law, which they say contains an exception for the life of the mother and is being improperly applied.
The tragic case involved Amber Nicole Thurman, a 28-year-old Georgia woman who traveled to North Carolina in 2022 to obtain abortion pills, but experienced complications upon returning to Georgia, where abortions after a heartbeat are prohibited. Thurman vomited, bled, and fainted.
Unable to return to North Carolina, where abortion restrictions are more relaxed, Thurman was taken by ambulance to a local hospital in Georgia, where she requested a dilation and curettage (D&C) to remove the remains of the dead fetus.
However, the hospital delayed the surgery for several hours because they weren't sure if they were violating state law. She died during surgery at the hospital.
“This is exactly what we feared when Roe was struck down: In more than 20 states, Trump's abortion bans are preventing doctors from providing basic medical care,” Harris said in a statement about the case this week.
But pro-life leaders say Harris and other pro-choice advocates are distorting the facts.
“The reason Georgia's abortion law did not cause Thurman's death is simple: it explicitly allows doctors to intervene in the event of a medical emergency or an undetectable fetal heartbeat (both of which were the case in Thurman's case), and the claim that she experienced a delay in treatment as a secondary effect of the law is mere speculation,” Dr. Christina Francis of the pro-life Charlotte Lozier Institute wrote in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. column.
“One thing is clear: Thurman died as a result of a legal chemical abortion. Pro-life advocates have long argued that chemical abortions are 'safer than Tylenol.' Thurman's story, along with the stories of countless other women, proves the opposite,” Francis added.
Michael New, a professor at the Catholic University of America, said the full extent of the case has not been reported in the mainstream media.
“Unfortunately, the playbook here is all too familiar,” he wrote. National Review“Supporters of legal abortion and their allies in the mainstream media are eager to use the tragic deaths of pregnant women to repeal pro-life laws.”
New added that Georgia law “allows a physician to intervene in the case of a medical emergency or if a fetal heartbeat cannot be detected.”
“Both of these things clearly apply in Thurman's case,” New wrote. “Moreover, a cervical endoscopic procedure to remove the remains of a deceased fetus is not an abortion and is not criminalized in Georgia.”
New said Thurman's death was caused by abortion pills.
“The mainstream media steadfastly refuses to report on the risks of these chemical abortion pills,” New writes. “The FDA label states that 1 in 25 women who take mifepristone have to go to the emergency room. Furthermore, studies in multiple peer-reviewed journals have found that chemical abortions have four times the complication rate of surgical abortions.”
“…media coverage is often difficult for pro-lifers to overcome,” New writes. “Indeed, better coverage would show that chemical abortions pose serious health risks to women. It would also show that pro-life laws were specifically drafted to allow medical professionals to assist pregnant women in need.”
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Michael Faust He has covered the intersection of faith and news for 20 years, and his work has appeared in Baptist Press, Christianity Today, Christian Post, Leaf Chronicle, Toronto Star and Knoxville News Sentinel.
