Woman in the USA receives help too late due to abortion law and dies

The death of a woman in the US following accidental consequences of an abortion is due to the restrictive abortion law in the state of Georgia, according to a report. Amber Nicole Thurman, 28, received medical help too late in August 2022 due to the legal situation, reported the US research platform Propublica. It cited information from a state committee that investigated the case. According to Propublica, this is the first death in connection with an abortion in the US that is officially classified as “preventable”.

Thurman had developed a rare complication after taking an abortion pill. They 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 warn that the guidelines are 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.”

Restrictive abortion laws came into effect 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 six weeks of pregnancy. However, in the days after taking the abortion pill, circumstances arose and they had to be hospitalized in Georgia.

The doctors diagnosed acute sepsis. But despite the rapid deterioration of her health, she waited 17 hours before performing the curettage of her uterus. Thurman died during the operation. “She died in the hospital, surrounded by medical staff who could have saved her life,” wrote feminist author Jessica Valenti on the online service X. “This is the result of the abortion bans.”

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