Amber Nicole Thurman, a 28-year-old Black single mother from Georgia, died from a serious illness after a medical delayed a treatment according to Georgia’s six-week abortion restrictions. According to ProPublica’s most latest report, this is the first death that has been linked to abortion restrictions since Roe v. Wade was overturned by the Supreme Court.
A state commission reviewing pregnancy-related murders had deemed Thurman’s dying in August 2022 as “preventable”.
According to Mini Timmaraju, chairman of Reproductive Freedom for All,” We basically have the validated evidence of something we already knew: abortion bans kill people,” according to Mother Jones.
Thurman requested an abortion after learning she was expecting sisters. After Georgia implemented its six-week pregnancy restrictions, she traveled to North Carolina, where abortion is allowed beyond 20 days. She took mifepristone and misoprostol, but difficulties arose, and she began bleeding greatly. To prevent sepsis, a dilation and curettage ( D&, C ) procedure was required to remove any remaining fetal tissue. Nevertheless, the North Carolina office may not do the D&, C as Thurman was never a native outside.
Thurman was later transported to a hospital in Atlanta’s suburbs. Despite showing signs of infection, she did not receive the D&, C until the next day, leading to her dying during operation. According to ProPublica, the Georgian maternal mortality review committee concluded that a prior D&, C may have probably prevented her demise.
Timmaraju said,” These devastating restrictions did not only prevent Amber, and many others, from accessing abortion care in her position, they also delayed the regular life-saving treatment she later needed, leaving her to endure and die”.
KR Redman, executive director of SPARK, said, as quoted by Mother Jones,” Reproductive justice is not just about abortion access, but also about the broader right to quality, comprehensive, full-range, culturally humble care, life-saving health care for all of us. Amber’s case serves as an illustration of the ongoing systemic care that continues to endanger Black people’s lives.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ( CDC ) notes that abortion bans include exceptions to save the life of pregnant women, but delays in emergency care due to uncertainty among medical professionals regarding when they can act without fear of being charged. This has disproportionately impacted Black women, who are 2.6 times more likely to die from pregnancy-related causes than white women.
Earlier this year, Yeniifer Alvarez-Estrada Glick, a woman in Texas, reportedly died from complications of a high-risk pregnancy in July 2022.
