The website ProPublica this week issued a report that claimed that Georgia’s abortion restrictions delayed access to medical care and caused the tragic death of a woman named Amber Nicole Thurman in 2022. Thurman died after being hospitalized for an infection after she took abortion pills. While abortion advocates have used the story to blame Thurman’s death on Georgia’s pro-life laws, a group of doctors have come forward to state that her death was caused by the abortion pill and medical negligence.
Dr. Christina Frances, CEO of the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists (AAPLOG) and a board-certified OB-GYN who has practiced for two decades, stated, “Amber Thurman’s tragic death, recently covered by multiple news organizations, was caused by the side effects of legal abortion drugs and medical negligence, not pro-life laws.”
According to the ProPublica report, Thurman went to the emergency room five days after experiencing complications from the abortion pill in which tissue from her deceased twins remained in her uterus, causing an infection. The standard of care, a dilation and curettage (“D&C”) procedure to remove the remains, was not done for over 20 hours, during such time more serious medical problems had developed.
Georgia law allows physicians to intervene in medical emergencies and when there is no fetal heartbeat, both of which applied to Thurman.
You can learn more about this tragic case in this article from Catholic News Agency.
To read a detailed thread from AAPLOG on the appropriate standard of care in this case, please click here.