Vice President Kamala Harris has associated the demise of a young mother from Georgia with former President Donald Trump’s decisions, particularly his Supreme Court justice appointments who voted to reverse abortion rights nationwide. This case has sparked renewed discussions about abortion accessibility and health care policies across the United States.
In August 2022, Amber Nicole Thurman, a 28-year-old, passed away following complications from an abortion pill. Reports suggest that Thurman waited for treatment for 20 hours at a suburban hospital in Atlanta, Georgia, before succumbing to a severe infection. Her death came just a fortnight after Georgia implemented stringent abortion restrictions in response to the Supreme Court’s decision to reverse Roe v. Wade.
“This young mother should be alive, raising her son, and pursuing her dream of attending nursing school. This is exactly what we feared when Roe was struck down. These are the consequences of Donald Trump’s actions,” Harris said.
The Vice President underscored the grave ramifications of limited abortion access, mentioning that women are encountering dire circumstances, including “bleeding out in parking lots” after being refused care in emergency rooms. She noted that some women are losing their fertility, and survivors of rape and incest are being denied decision-making rights over their bodies, leading to the loss of women’s lives.
The Trump campaign responded to the allegations by blaming the hospital for not providing life-saving care. The campaign’s press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, stressed that President Trump has always supported exceptions for rape, incest, and the life of the mother, included in Georgia’s law. Given these exceptions, she questioned why immediate action was not taken to save Amber Thurman’s life.
Georgia’s maternal mortality commission is currently reviewing Thurman’s case. An official state committee has ruled that her death was avoidable, according to the investigative news outlet ProPublica. The hospital in suburban Atlanta that reportedly delayed her treatment has not been cited by the federal government for failing to provide stabilizing treatment to a pregnant patient, based on a review of federal documents over the last two years.
According to the federal government, numerous pregnant women have been unlawfully turned away from emergency rooms, with case numbers escalating in states with strict abortion bans like Texas and Missouri. A media report found that women have been left to miscarry in public restrooms, wait for treatment in their vehicles, or be instructed by doctors to seek care elsewhere. Some women have developed infections or lost a part of their reproductive system after hospitals in abortion-ban states delayed emergency abortions.
The Supreme Court ruling and subsequent state abortion laws have led to a multitude of complaints against hospitals and doctors, who are accused of refusing to treat women for pregnancy complications. Women in Texas have requested U.S. health authorities to investigate local hospitals for denying them abortions for dangerous ectopic pregnancies. Likewise, women in Idaho, Tennessee, and Oklahoma have initiated lawsuits alleging they were refused abortions despite experiencing life-threatening pregnancy complications.
Democrats and advocates for abortion rights have used Thurman’s case to argue that women’s health is jeopardized by strict abortion bans. On the other hand, anti-abortion advocates have refuted these claims, labeling them as misinformation.
Abortion access remains a pivotal issue in U.S. politics. Following the 2022 Supreme Court decision, about a dozen U.S. states, including Georgia, have enacted laws severely restricting or outright banning abortion rights. Trump has expressed the belief that individual states should determine abortion rights and include exceptions for rape, incest, and the life of the mother.
With the 2024 presidential election scheduled for November 5, the issue of abortion rights is anticipated to remain a key topic in political discourse. Vice President Harris, the Democratic nominee, has clearly stated that she considers the protection of abortion rights a vital campaign issue. Cases like Thurman’s continue to underscore the challenging and contentious nature of abortion policy in the United States.