Pro-life leaders say the tragic death of a Georgia woman has sparked misleading headlines and political posturing by presidential nominee Kamala Harris, arguing the real issue lies with abortion pills, not Georgia's law. The Georgia law in question, these leaders say, includes an exception for the life of the mother and is misapplied.
The tragic case involves a 28-year-old Georgia woman, Amber Nicole Thurman, who traveled to North Carolina in 2022 to obtain the abortion pill but faced complications when she returned to Georgia, where abortions are prohibited after a heartbeat is detected. Thurman was vomiting, bleeding, and fainting.
Unable to travel back to North Carolina, which has fewer abortion restrictions, Thurman was transported by ambulance to a local Georgia hospital where she requested a dilation-and-curettage (D&C) procedure to remove the remains of the dead unborn child.
The hospital, though, delayed the procedure several hours, unsure if it was breaking state law. She died during surgery at the hospital.
Harris pounced on the story this week, saying in a statement, "This is exactly what we feared when Roe was struck down. In more than 20 states, Trump Abortion Bans are preventing doctors from providing basic medical care."
Pro-life leaders, though, say Harris and other pro-choicers are twisting the facts.
"The reason Georgia's abortion law isn't responsible for Thurman's death is simple: It explicitly allows physicians to intervene in cases of medical emergencies or if the fetus has no detectable heartbeat (both of which applied to Thurman's case), and any assertion that she experienced a delay in care as a secondary effect of the law is mere speculation," Dr. Christina Francis of the pro-life Charlotte Lozier Institute wrote in an Atlanta Journal-Constitution column.
"One thing is clear: Thurman died from a legal chemical abortion, which abortion advocates have long argued is 'safer than Tylenol.' Thurman's story proves otherwise — as do countless other women's," Francis added.
Michael New, a professor at Catholic University of America, said the full story has not been told within the mainstream media.
"Unfortunately, the playbook here is all too familiar," he wrote at National Review. "Supporters of legal abortion and their mainstream media allies have been all too willing to exploit the tragic deaths of pregnant women to strike down pro-life laws."
Georgia law, New added, "allows physicians to intervene in cases of medical emergencies or if the preborn child has no detectable heartbeat."
"Both of these clearly applied in Thurman's case," New wrote. "Furthermore, a D&C to remove the remains of an unborn child that has died is not an abortion and is not criminalized in Georgia."
Thurman's death was caused by the abortion pill, New said.
"Mainstream media outlets steadfastly refuse to cover the risks of these chemical-abortion drugs," New wrote. "The FDA's own labeling states that one in 25 women will have to visit the emergency room after taking mifepristone. Furthermore, research from multiple peer-reviewed journals shows that chemical abortions have four times the complication rate of surgical abortions.
"… The media narrative is often for pro-lifers difficult to overcome," New wrote. "Indeed, better reporting would show that chemical abortions pose serious health risks for women. It would also show that pro-life laws are specifically drafted to allow medical professionals to assist pregnant women in need."
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Michael Foust has covered the intersection of faith and news for 20 years. His stories have appeared in Baptist Press, Christianity Today, The Christian Post, the Leaf-Chronicle, the Toronto Star and the Knoxville News-Sentinel.