ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) – A day after a judge struck down Georgia's six-week abortion ban, the family of a mother who died after allegedly receiving delayed abortion care in 2022 is speaking out.
Amber Thurman, 28, had a rare complication from her abortion medications and went to Piedmont Henry Hospital in Stockbridge for a procedure to remove tissue from the uterus. However, according to Ben Crump, the family's attorney, doctors waited 20 hours to perform dilation and curettage, which allegedly led to her death.
Crump said the family plans to file a medical malpractice lawsuit.
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The lawsuit comes when a judge of the Supreme Court of Fulton County picked up Georgia's life law on Monday, which prohibits abortions after a fetal heartbeat could be determined. In most cases this is around six weeks.
“It’s bittersweet for this family,” Crump said during a news conference Tuesday. “Because while it will likely prevent other women in the state of Georgia from being put in danger like Amber was for the foreseeable future, it was not designed to save Amber’s life.”
Thurman died two weeks after the LIFE Act took effect. Lawyer Michael Harper said the law gives two exceptions – if there is a medical emergency and the fetus is not viable. Thurman's situation fulfills both conditions, he argued during the press conference.
“Under Georgia’s heartbeat law, her life still should have been saved,” he said.
Thurman's mother, Shanette Williams, claimed the hospital left the family in the dark about what happened.
“I want to understand this. I want to know why. Because as her mother, that’s the hardest thing,” she said. “We would have done anything if we had known that. But we didn’t.”
Cjauna Williams, one of Thurman's sisters, FaceTimed Thurman shortly before she was admitted for the procedure. She said Thurman's face was blue.
“She looked deep into my soul. And to this day, that face, that look, haunts me every day,” she said. “Did she really have to be the victim?”
Abortion-and the swing state of Georgia-are of crucial importance for the 2024 presidential election. After ProPublica Thurman's report published, the news spread on social media and brought Georgia to the national stage again.
Kamala Harris spoke directly about Thurman during a speech in Georgia on September 20th.
“She was loved,” Harris said. “And she should still be alive today.”
On Tuesday evening, Thurman's story came up during the vice presidential debate between the governor of Minnesota, Tim Walz, and the Senator of Ohio, JD Vance, when they discussed reproductive rights.
Walz misrepresented Thurman's death in the debate and said that she drove “600 miles” to North Carolina to have an abortion carried out and had died “on the back and forth”.
“There is a young woman named Amber Thurman,” said Walz. “She happened to be in Georgia, a restrictive state. For this reason, she had to take a long trip to North Carolina to be treated. Amber Thurman died on this journey back and forth. The fact is: How can we as a nation say that your life and your rights, as fundamentally as the right to have your own body, are determined by geography? There is a very real chance that Amber Thurman would still be alive today if she had lived in Minnesota.”
After the debate, Thurman's family released the following statement through Crump's law firm:
“Tonight we commend Governor Tim Walz for telling Amber’s story and for his unwavering commitment to defending women’s reproductive rights. Amber's tragic death was a direct result of Georgia's outdated and dangerously restrictive abortion laws, which denied her the life-saving care she so desperately needed.
“We severely condemn the Republican platform, which, under the wrong guise of protection, wants to further restrict the access of women to the necessary health care. We mourn an unimaginable loss that no family should have to endure. We still have to fight laws that endanger the lives of women and we are grateful to executives such as governor Walz who are committed to common sense for laws and at the same time show so much sympathy.
“The fight for justice for Amber is a fight for every woman’s right to make decisions about her own body and access the medical care she needs. We will not stop until these dangerous laws are repealed and no more lives are lost. Until then, we have to say your name: Amber Thurman! “
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