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A Georgia woman died after a hospital personnel delayed a life-saving procedure due to the state's abortion laws.
28-year-old Amber Nicole Thurman went to Piedmont Henry Hospital in need of treatment after experiencing a rare complication from taking abortion pills where fetal tissue remained in her body. Thurman was seeking a routine procedure called dilation and curettage (D&C), which would clear her uterus and stop possible infection from the remaining fetal tissue.
Doctors hesitated to operate due to a Georgia law passed this summer under which performing a D&C could be considered a felony in cases related to abortion. Violating the law is punishable by up to 10 years in prison.
The delay left Thurman in 20 hours of agony while her infection worsened, her blood pressure plummeted, and her organs began to fail. By the time doctors decided to perform the procedure, Thurman had died.
Thurman, a medical assistant in Atlanta, reportedly had aspirations of attending nursing school.
A state committee of medical experts tasked with reviewing pregnancy-related deaths ruled Thurman's as "preventable." The committee determined that the delay in performing the D&C had a "large" impact on her death. Thurman is among at least two women in Georgia who have died due to restricted access to abortions and timely medical care, according to reports uncovered by ProPublica.
“These are the consequences of Donald Trump’s actions,” Vice President Kamala Harris said in a statement.
"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.”
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