Left-leaning outlet ProPublica is blaming — without clear evidence — Georgia’s six-week abortion restriction for the sepsis death of a woman who took abortion pills to end her pregnancy with twins.
While all the details of what led to Amber Nicole Thurman’s death in August of 2022 are unclear, an official state committee ruled that her death at Piedmont Henry Hospital was “preventable,” the report found. The committee additionally found that there is a “good chance” earlier medical intervention could have prevented her death and pointed to the hospital’s “lack of policies/procedures in place to evacuate uterus immediately.” The committee recommended all hospitals implement policies “to treat a septic abortion on an ongoing basis.”
ProPublica reporter Kavitha Surana claims in the headline: “Under Georgia’s Abortion Ban, She Died After Delayed Care” and cites the case as an example for how dangerous abortion restrictions are to women. However, Surana admitted through her own reporting that “it is not clear from the records available” why doctors allegedly delayed care, and noted that no one at the hospital gave an explanation to their reasoning for waiting. She entirely speculates that care was delayed because of state law.
Surana also claims Georgia’s six-week abortion restriction made performing [a D&C] a felony, with few exceptions,” which is dangerous mischaracterization of the law that could arguably lead to confusion. The procedure, dilation and curettage, is performed in some abortions, but it is also sometimes implemented in miscarriage management by clearing the uterus of the remains of an unborn child, according to Mayo Clinic.
Every abortion restriction in the United States notably contains exceptions for extreme medical emergencies and the life of the mother, and courts have ruled that these laws do not require “imminence” or “certainty” before a doctor can act to save a patient’s life. Furthermore, no law criminalizes care for miscarriage or ectopic pregnancies, conditions which can be life-threatening.
Breitbart News reached out to Surana asking if she obtained any evidence that Thurman’s death was a direct result of the state’s abortion restriction and for any further clarification about her story. She did not respond by time of publication.
Thurman’s death appears to be the first “preventable” abortion-related death reported publicly following the overturn of Roe v. Wade.
The Timeline of Thurman’s Death
Thurman, a single mother of a six-year-old boy, found out she was pregnant with twins in the summer of 2022 and decided to have an abortion, her best friend Ricaria Baker told the outlet. Records her family shared with the outlet allegedly indicate that her pregnancy had just passed six weeks when Georgia’s law restricting abortions went into effect.
Thurman decided to schedule a surgical abortion using the D&C method in North Carolina when she was nine weeks along. On August 13, she traveled with her best friend to North Carolina, but ultimately missed her appointment when they got caught in heavy traffic, according to the report.
Instead of having a surgical abortion, the clinic offered to give Thurman a two-pill abortion regimen to have her abortion at home.
In a medication abortion, the first drug, mifepristone, blocks the action of progesterone, which the mother’s body produces to nourish the pregnancy. When progesterone is blocked, the lining of the mother’s uterus deteriorates, and blood and nourishment are cut off to the developing baby, who then dies inside the mother’s womb. The second drug, misoprostol (also called Cytotec), then causes contractions and bleeding to expel the baby from the mother’s uterus.
Surana wrote that Thurman’s pregnancy was “well within the standard of care for that treatment” and wrote that Thurman sat through a counseling session at the clinic and was told how to take the pills and to seek help at an emergency room if complications arose. Thurman allegedly signed a release saying she understood, and took the first pill at the clinic. She took the second pill the next day at home, according to the report.
Days after she took the second pill, Thurman reportedly began experiencing extremely heavy bleeding. By August 18, she vomited blood and passed out at home, leading to her boyfriend calling for an ambulance. She was transported to Piedmont Henry Hospital in Stockbridge that evening, according to the report.
ProPublica allegedly obtained the summary narrative of Thurman’s hospital stay, which was provided to the state’s maternal mortality review committee. Surana also said she consulted with the committee and medical experts about the timeline of events.
Unnamed medical experts told the outlet it “should have been clear that she was in danger” when Thurman arrived at the hospital.
“Her lower abdomen was tender, according to the summary. Her white blood cell count was critically high and her blood pressure perilously low — at one point, as Thurman got up to go to the bathroom, she fainted again and hit her head. Doctors noted a foul odor during a pelvic exam, and an ultrasound showed possible tissue in her uterus,” the report states.
It continues:
The standard treatment of sepsis is to start antibiotics and immediately seek and remove the source of the infection. For a septic abortion, that would include removing any remaining tissue from the uterus. One of the hospital network’s own practices describes a D&C as a “fairly common, minor surgical procedure” to be used after a miscarriage to remove fetal tissue.
At 9:38 p.m. doctors put Thurman on antibiotics and an IV drip, the summary allegedly states. The OB-GYN noted the possibility of performing a D&C the next day.
By the next morning, Thurman was diagnosed with “acute severe sepsis,” according to the report. By 5:14 a.m. she was bleeding out. Doctors still did not perform the D&C, the report continues.
Surana again mischaracterizes Georgia’s abortion restriction, writing that “instead of performing the newly criminalized procedure, they continued to gather information and dispense medicine” (emphasis added).
Doctors allegedly had Thurman tested for sexually transmitted diseases and pneumonia and put her on blood pressure medication, but still had not performed a D&C 17 hours after she arrived, despite discussing performing the procedure, the report alleges.
That morning, lab work showed her organs were failing. By 2:00 p.m., Thurman was finally taken to an operating room —20 hours after she arrived, the report alleges.
By then, doctors found”that her bowel needed to be removed, but it was too risky to operate because not enough blood was flowing to the area — a possible complication from the blood press medication,” according to Surana, who said she consulted with medical experts for an explanation of Thurman’s condition.
Doctors ultimately performed the D&C and then continued with a hysterectomy, but Thurman’s heart stopped and she died during surgery, the report alleges.
The state’s committee found that Thurman would have had a “good chance” of surviving if she had a D&C earlier, and highlighted Piedmont’s “lack of policies/procedures in place to evacuate uterus immediately” and recommended all hospitals implement policies “to treat a septic abortion on an ongoing basis,” Surana found.
The committee did not blame Georgia’s abortion restriction for her death, as far as their findings are detailed in ProPublica’s reporting.
“It is not clear from the records available why doctors waited to provide a D&C to Thurman, though the summary report shows they discussed the procedure at least twice in the hours before they finally did,” Surana wrote.
Unnamed sources who were not authorized to speak publicly allegedly told Surana the hospital did not have a guidance for doctors about how to interpret the state’s abortion law when Thurman was there for care. The hospital has allegedly since established an internal task force to navigate the law.
Breitbart News reached out to the hospital for comment on the allegations and for confirmation about the internal task force. The hospital did not respond by time of publication.
Georgia’s Abortion Restriction
Surana mischaracterizes “Georgia’s supposed lifesaving exceptions” when writing about the law and appears to insinuate that the law could be at fault for Thurman’s death.
She states that the law prohibits doctors from using any instrument “with the purpose of terminating a pregnancy.” She notes that while “removing fetal tissue is not terminating a pregnancy, medically speaking,” the law supposedly only specifies that it is not considered an abortion to remove “a dead unborn child” that resulted from a natural miscarriage. Thurman had allegedly told doctors she took abortion pills.
However, Surana omitted key parts of the law, which reveal that treating Thurman for sepsis after an incomplete medication abortion was well-covered by state law.
According to the law’s text, a person commits a criminal abortion by “administering any instrument, substance, device, or other means with the purpose to terminate a pregnancy with knowledge that termination will, with reasonable likelihood, cause the death of an unborn child.” [emphasis added].
In Thurman’s case, the unborn babies were likely already dead, with doctors finding possible fetal tissue in her uterus when she was taken to the hospital.
Even if the twins still had heartbeats, Georgia’s law has an exception for abortions in medical emergencies, which is defined in the law: “means a condition in which an abortion is necessary in order to prevent the death of the pregnant woman or the substantial and irreversible physical impairment of a major bodily function of the pregnant woman.” Sepsis can damage vital organs and lead to death, according to the Mayo Clinic.
The Abortion Defense Project’s outline of Georgia abortion law supports this assessment. The Abortion Defense Network is a “collaborative effort by nonprofit organizations, private law firms, and government officials committed to safeguarding abortion access and upholding reproductive rights,” according to its website, and is overseen by left-wing legal groups like ACLU and Center for Reproductive Rights.
“With respect to self-managed abortion, it is legal for providers to give medical care during or after a self-managed abortion provided there is no cardiac activity, or if the patient is experiencing a complication that would qualify as a medical emergency, the pregnancy is the result of rape or incest, or the pregnancy is medically futile (see below),” a state-by-state report reads. “There is no specific crime of self-managed abortion in Georgia law, so a pregnant person cannot be convicted of a violation of Georgia’s abortion bans for self-managing their abortion.”
ProPublica asked Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp’s (R) office to respond to the Thurman’s case and assess whether the state’s abortion exceptions are adequate. Kemp notably signed the pro-life law in 2019, and it went into effect in 2022 after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, ending the invented constitutional right to abortion.
Spokesperson Garrison Douglas allegedly told the outlet the law is clear in giving doctors the power to act in medical emergencies and described ProPublica’s reporting as a “fear-mongering campaign.”
Reaction and Rebuttals to ProPublica’s Report
Breitbart News also reached out to Kemp’s office, asking for a response to the accusations in ProPublica’s report, as well as any clarification of the state’s abortion law.
“Since it would violate federal and state patient privacy laws for our office or any party to access the report that ProPublica allegedly possesses, we cannot confirm or comment on the circumstances surrounding Ms. Thurman’s tragic passing. Every life is precious, including that of Amber Nicole Thurman, which is why we support life at all stages in Georgia,” Douglas responded via email.
“While some may seek to use her passing to spread dangerous misinformation that fosters confusion, fear, and risks patients’ lives, we remain committed to protecting and defending the lives of the most vulnerable among us,” he added.
He also pointed Breitbart News to an August of 2022 report by the Georgia Department of Public Health which outlines the law’s exceptions for medical emergencies. The report specifically lists sepsis as a “medical risk of abortion.”
Thurman’s story, in addition to other tragic stories, is already being used by Democrats to promote their agenda of undoing all abortion restrictions by passing a federal law that allows abortion-on-demand.
“A young mother from Georgia should be alive today, raising her son and pursuing her dream of attending nursing school,” Vice President Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris said in reaction to Thurman’s death. “This is exactly what we feared when Roe v. Wade was struck down. In more than 20 states, Trump Abortion Bans prevent doctors from providing basic medical care.”
“Bans across the country, including Georgia’s, put women like Amber in harm’s way — preventing them from getting the care they so critically need and deserve,” Planned Parenthood Action said in a post to X.
But pro-life advocates and organizations are arguing that, while Thurman’s death is tragic, Georgia’s abortion restriction is not to blame.
“ProPublica is lying about Amber Thurman, to push their pro-abortion agenda. Here’s the truth: Amber Thurman was a 28-year-old mother who died from sepsis after taking legally obtained abortion pills. Abortion killed Amber Thurman. Abortion killed Amber’s twin babies. NOT pro-life laws,” Live Action founder and president Lila Rose said.
“When finally taken to the ER, it was clear she was experiencing sepsis – part of her babies still remaining in her uterus,” she added in part. ”
“Instead of performing a standard D&C for this clear emergency situation, medical staff waited, due to either training issues or other negligence. Amber Thurman died due to medical negligence after taking the abortion pill,” she alleged.
She continued:
ProPublica and abortion advocates are now LYING about Amber’s tragic death, claiming the needed D&C procedure had been made a felony by Georgia’s pro-life law. THIS IS A LIE.
D&C procedures are NOT illegal in Georgia unless used to intentionally kill a child in the womb. Amber’s twins had no heartbeat and were already dead from the abortion pills.
The American Association of Pro Life OBGYNs (AAPLOG) posted a lengthy thread to X about how physician’s should have intervened to save Thurman’s life.
“This is one of the most clearcut cases of medical malpractice (based on the information available publicly) that we have ever seen,” the organization alleged. “Standard of care on her arrival was IMMEDIATE D&C and initiation of antibiotics. Had this been done, she most likely would be alive today.”
“Tragic deaths like Amber’s should not be exploited to claim that they are the fault of pro-life laws. Don’t fall for the bait and switch. Her death was due to 2 things: abortion drugs and lack of appropriate & timely medical care (which is perfectly legal in pro-life states),” the organization continued:
This complication of abortion drugs is not rare. Retained tissue requiring surgical evacuation occurs in roughly 5% of women who take these drugs at 9 weeks.
Georgia’s law does NOT criminalize doing a D&C (nor does any other state law), especially when there is no detectable fetal heart rate (which there weren’t in this case).
GA’s law also allows for a D&C, even with a detectable heartbeat, to prevent the death or serious physical impairment of a pregnant woman. It prevents a D&C that has the sole intent of ending the life of a preborn human being.
Our patients deserve better. The abortion industry and its allies must STOP lying and instilling fear. It’s time for ALL physicians, regardless of their position on induced abortion, to stand for clarity over confusion, facts over fear, and excellent care of our patients.
Leading pro-life organization Susan. B Anthony Pro-Life America responded similarly.
“A D&C to remove an unborn child that has died, or dead pregnancy tissue, is not a “felony” or “criminalized” in Georgia or anywhere,” the organization wrote in part. “The laws are clear.”
“We, too, have many questions about the care Amber Thurman received. One thing is clear: this tragedy began with abortion drugs,” the organization continued.
Thurman’s story is the first abortion-related death article ProPublica intends to publish out of at least two alleged incidences in the state.
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