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“Vice President Kamala Harris said on Tuesday a Georgia woman's death could have been prevented if the state did not have an abortion ban, and pinned the blame on Republican presidential rival Donald Trump…
“At least two women in Georgia have died after they could not access abortion-related medical care in their state, investigative news outlet ProPublica reported [last] Monday. Amber Nicole Thurman, 28, died in August 2022 following complications after she took an abortion pill, and ‘suffered from a grave infection that her suburban Atlanta hospital was well-equipped to treat,’ the news outlet said, citing reports from a state committee that called her death ‘preventable.’” Reuters
“The news organization also reported on the death of Candi Miller, a woman with lupus, diabetes and hypertension who took abortion pills she ordered online. An autopsy found fetal tissue that hadn’t been expelled and a lethal combination of painkillers, ProPublica reported. The state’s maternal mortality review committee did not believe abortion medication caused her death.” AP News
The left argues that abortion pills are safe, and that women are dying due to abortion bans.
“Confronted with the circumstances of Thurman’s death, abortion opponents may try to blame the medication she took to end her pregnancy. But that tactic exaggerates the danger posed by abortion-inducing pills…
“‘Out of nearly 6 million women who’ve taken mifepristone in the U.S. since 2000, 32 deaths were reported to the FDA through 2022, regardless of whether the drug played a role,’ ProPublica reported. ‘Of those, 11 patients developed sepsis. Most of the remaining cases involved intentional and accidental drug overdoses, suicide, homicide and ruptured ectopic pregnancies.’…
“[The deaths in Georgia] are not accidental, but proof that abortion bans work exactly as designed. Their proponents have resisted legislative attempts to widen or create exceptions to save the life of the mother; the result is a legal regime that is profoundly dangerous for pregnant women.”
Sarah Jones, New York Magazine
“In many of [the states that ban abortion], doctors must now decide whether a woman has moved so close to the brink of death that she can finally be treated. In Georgia, if they get it wrong, they could spend a decade in jail. That puts incredible weight on decisions that once were no-brainers — such as whether or not to perform a D&C on a woman who arrives in an ambulance showing signs of septic shock…
“And emergency medical teams are often composed of doctors who do not regularly practice reproductive medicine. Their hospital might not have a legal team waiting to provide support. These doctors likely haven’t put a criminal attorney on retainer in case someone later challenges their decision-making. We don’t know the details of the medical team managing Thurman’s care, but it’s reasonable to think some of those dynamics were at play.”
Lisa Jarvis, Bloomberg
“America is a litigious country, and some of the most extreme anti-abortion legislation, such as Texas’s so-called bounty law, explicitly offers monetary rewards to private citizens if they successfully sue people who help a woman terminate a pregnancy. In this climate, doctors are naturally scared of legal action. My colleague Sarah Zhang recently reported from Idaho, which has strict abortion laws…
“She found that some ob-gyns are leaving the state because of the impossible choice they are asked to make—leave a woman to die, or risk their entire career to treat her. ‘I could not live with myself if something bad happened to somebody,’ one doctor told Zhang. ‘But I also couldn’t live with myself if I went to prison and left my family and my small children behind.’…
“Thurman’s story is not about the danger of abortion pills. Her story is about the danger of women not receiving simple, routine follow-up care after taking these pills, because of political decisions made by the state.”
Helen Lewis, The Atlantic
The right argues that the women did not die because of Georgia’s abortion ban, and that abortion pills are not as safe as is often claimed.
The right argues that the women did not die because of Georgia’s abortion ban, and that abortion pills are not as safe as is often claimed.
“Miller didn’t die because she was pregnant. She died in the process of attempting to take her unborn child’s life, with $80 mail-order abortion pills and fentanyl besides. Thurman didn’t develop sepsis because she was pregnant. She developed it because she tried to end her pregnancy using an FDA-approved drug under FDA-approved circumstances. The buck does not stop with the doctors who failed to save her life after that fact…
“The experts concluded these deaths were preventable. Undeniably, this much is true. For unexplained reasons, Thurman’s doctors did not perform a D&C on her until 20 hours after she arrived at the hospital, despite it being legal in the state of Georgia to do so in case of danger to the life of the mother. But the North Carolina abortion shop handing out deadly pills like candy to a woman from the next state over, rather than lose a customer, should also be subject to investigation.”
Carmel Richardson, American Conservative
“Georgia’s pro-life heartbeat act was not responsible for Thurman’s death. That is because the law 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. 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 chemical-abortion pills. However, mainstream media outlets steadfastly refuse to cover the risks of these chemical-abortion drugs. 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 show that chemical abortions have four times the complication rate of surgical abortions. Even so, the FDA has removed safeguards over time and now women can obtain chemical abortions without an in-person medical examination.”
Michael J. New, National Review
“Since the Dobbs decision leaked in May 2022, abortion advocates and the news media have claimed that state abortion laws outlaw all sorts of things that aren’t abortion. Abortion bans, the pro-choice commentators and reporters insist, make it illegal to get care after a miscarriage, to deal with an ectopic pregnancy, or to end a pregnancy in order to save a mother’s life. This is not true. Every state with an abortion ban includes a life-of-the-mother exception…
“Did Thurman or her doctors believe, falsely, that Georgia’s law banned a post-abortion D&C? Did Thurman or her doctors believe that a life-saving D&C was illegal in Georgia? That would explain why they didn’t move Thurman to the OR for 20 hours. If their mistake did cause her demise, then it’s not the fault of the Georgia law, which is unambiguous on these questions. It’s the fault of those who lied about abortion law.”
Timothy P. Carney, Washington Examiner
