The death of a woman in the US after complications following an abortion is, according to a report, due to the restrictive abortion law in the US state of Georgia. Amber Nicole Thurman, 28, received medical help too late in August 2022 due to the legal situation, reported the US research platform Propublica, citing information from a US state committee that had investigated the case.
“Avoidable death”
According to Propublica, this is the first death in the USA that is officially classified as “preventable” in connection with an abortion. Thurman had developed a rare complication after taking an abortion pill. She died during an emergency operation. According to the committee’s assessment, the doctors performed a presumably life-saving procedure too late, the Propublica report said. A law had recently been passed in Georgia that criminalized curettage of the uterus and provided only a few exceptions. Doctors warned that the guidelines were vague and difficult to interpret.
“Amber would still be alive if (former President) Donald Trump and (Georgia Governor) Brian Kemp had not enforced the abortion ban,” said activist Mini Timmaraju of the NGO Reproductive Freedom for All. “They have blood on their hands.”
Strict abortion regulations
Restrictive abortion laws came into force in Georgia and 21 other U.S. states after the Supreme Court in June 2022 struck down the nearly 50-year-old nationwide right to abortion and placed jurisdiction over abortion law in the hands of the states.
Thurman had traveled to North Carolina to have an abortion because of Georgia’s ban on abortions after the sixth week of pregnancy. However, in the days after taking the abortion pill, complications arose and she had to be hospitalized in Georgia.
Acute Sepsis
Doctors diagnosed acute sepsis. But despite her rapid deterioration, they waited 17 hours before performing a curettage of her uterus. Thurman died during the operation. “She died in the hospital, surrounded by medical personnel who could have saved her life,” wrote feminist author Jessica Valenti on X. “This is the result of abortion bans.”
