Georgia Mom, 28, Dies of ‘Preventable’ Infection After Being Denied Life-Saving Procedure Due to State’s Abortion Laws

Mar. 15, 2025

Amber Nicole Thurman died after being denied a life-saving procedure due to her state’s abortion laws.Photo:Amber Nicole Thurman/FacebookA Georgia woman died after the state’s strict anti-abortion laws caused a 20-hour delay in her treatment.In August 2022, Amber Nicole Thurman, 28, drove to a North Carolina clinic to have an abortion,Mother Jonesreported. She could not get one in her home state of Georgia because she was six weeks pregnant — and Georgia had enacted a ban forbidding abortion after six weeks' gestation following the2022 overturn ofRoe v. Wade.The clinic gave her the pregnancy-ending pillsmifepristoneandmisoprostol, which she took back at home. A few days, later, Thurman had a rare complication where she didn’t expel all the fetal tissue, according toProPublica, which was the first to report on the case.When tissue remains in the uterus, it can cause “infection, which can damage your reproductive organs or even cause dangerous complications like sepsis when left untreated,” theCleveland Clinicsays.Thurman, a medical assistant and mom to a 6-year-old boy, began bleeding heavily, struggling with pain, and eventually lost consciousness at home,Mother Jonesreported, leading her to seek treatment at Piedmont Henry Hospital in Stockbridge. But due to Georgia’s stringent anti-abortion laws, doctors didn’t proceed with a dilation and curettage — commonly known as a D&C.As theMayo Clinicexplains, D&C is “a procedure to remove tissue from inside your uterus. Health care professionals perform dilation and curettage to diagnose and treat certain uterine conditions — such as heavy bleeding — or to clear the uterine lining after a miscarriage or abortion.”A pro-choice rally in Atlanta in 2022.ELIJAH NOUVELAGE/AFP via GettyHowever,ProPublicareports that an official state committee reported that doctors waited for 20 hours to operate while they monitored Thurman’s infection — during which time her blood pressure dropped and her organs failed.Thurman died in August 2022, but a state investigation found that her death was “preventable” — andProPublicasaid that Thurman’s is the first known “preventable” case linked to abortion.Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE’s free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.According to Georgia law, “no abortion shall be performed if the unborn child has a detectable human heartbeat except (a) in the event of a medical emergency or medically futile pregnancy.”In the state, “medical emergency” is defined as “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 … No such greater risk shall be deemed to exist if … the pregnant woman will purposefully engage in conduct which she intends to result in her death or in substantial and irreversible physical impairment of a major bodily function.”Piedmont Henry Hospital has not responded to PEOPLE’s request for comment.“We actually have the substantiated proof of something we already knew—that abortion bans kill people,” Mini Timmaraju, president of the abortion-rights groupReproductive Freedom for All, said, according toMother Jones.“It cannot go on.”

Amber Nicole Thurman died after being denied a life-saving procedure due to her state’s abortion laws.Photo:Amber Nicole Thurman/Facebook

Amber Nicole Thurman/Facebook

A Georgia woman died after the state’s strict anti-abortion laws caused a 20-hour delay in her treatment.In August 2022, Amber Nicole Thurman, 28, drove to a North Carolina clinic to have an abortion,Mother Jonesreported. She could not get one in her home state of Georgia because she was six weeks pregnant — and Georgia had enacted a ban forbidding abortion after six weeks' gestation following the2022 overturn ofRoe v. Wade.The clinic gave her the pregnancy-ending pillsmifepristoneandmisoprostol, which she took back at home. A few days, later, Thurman had a rare complication where she didn’t expel all the fetal tissue, according toProPublica, which was the first to report on the case.When tissue remains in the uterus, it can cause “infection, which can damage your reproductive organs or even cause dangerous complications like sepsis when left untreated,” theCleveland Clinicsays.Thurman, a medical assistant and mom to a 6-year-old boy, began bleeding heavily, struggling with pain, and eventually lost consciousness at home,Mother Jonesreported, leading her to seek treatment at Piedmont Henry Hospital in Stockbridge. But due to Georgia’s stringent anti-abortion laws, doctors didn’t proceed with a dilation and curettage — commonly known as a D&C.As theMayo Clinicexplains, D&C is “a procedure to remove tissue from inside your uterus. Health care professionals perform dilation and curettage to diagnose and treat certain uterine conditions — such as heavy bleeding — or to clear the uterine lining after a miscarriage or abortion.”A pro-choice rally in Atlanta in 2022.ELIJAH NOUVELAGE/AFP via GettyHowever,ProPublicareports that an official state committee reported that doctors waited for 20 hours to operate while they monitored Thurman’s infection — during which time her blood pressure dropped and her organs failed.Thurman died in August 2022, but a state investigation found that her death was “preventable” — andProPublicasaid that Thurman’s is the first known “preventable” case linked to abortion.Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE’s free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.According to Georgia law, “no abortion shall be performed if the unborn child has a detectable human heartbeat except (a) in the event of a medical emergency or medically futile pregnancy.”In the state, “medical emergency” is defined as “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 … No such greater risk shall be deemed to exist if … the pregnant woman will purposefully engage in conduct which she intends to result in her death or in substantial and irreversible physical impairment of a major bodily function.”Piedmont Henry Hospital has not responded to PEOPLE’s request for comment.“We actually have the substantiated proof of something we already knew—that abortion bans kill people,” Mini Timmaraju, president of the abortion-rights groupReproductive Freedom for All, said, according toMother Jones.“It cannot go on.”

A Georgia woman died after the state’s strict anti-abortion laws caused a 20-hour delay in her treatment.

In August 2022, Amber Nicole Thurman, 28, drove to a North Carolina clinic to have an abortion,Mother Jonesreported. She could not get one in her home state of Georgia because she was six weeks pregnant — and Georgia had enacted a ban forbidding abortion after six weeks' gestation following the2022 overturn ofRoe v. Wade.

The clinic gave her the pregnancy-ending pillsmifepristoneandmisoprostol, which she took back at home. A few days, later, Thurman had a rare complication where she didn’t expel all the fetal tissue, according toProPublica, which was the first to report on the case.

When tissue remains in the uterus, it can cause “infection, which can damage your reproductive organs or even cause dangerous complications like sepsis when left untreated,” theCleveland Clinicsays.

Thurman, a medical assistant and mom to a 6-year-old boy, began bleeding heavily, struggling with pain, and eventually lost consciousness at home,Mother Jonesreported, leading her to seek treatment at Piedmont Henry Hospital in Stockbridge. But due to Georgia’s stringent anti-abortion laws, doctors didn’t proceed with a dilation and curettage — commonly known as a D&C.

As theMayo Clinicexplains, D&C is “a procedure to remove tissue from inside your uterus. Health care professionals perform dilation and curettage to diagnose and treat certain uterine conditions — such as heavy bleeding — or to clear the uterine lining after a miscarriage or abortion.”

A pro-choice rally in Atlanta in 2022.ELIJAH NOUVELAGE/AFP via Getty

ELIJAH NOUVELAGE/AFP via Getty

However,ProPublicareports that an official state committee reported that doctors waited for 20 hours to operate while they monitored Thurman’s infection — during which time her blood pressure dropped and her organs failed.

Thurman died in August 2022, but a state investigation found that her death was “preventable” — andProPublicasaid that Thurman’s is the first known “preventable” case linked to abortion.

Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE’s free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

According to Georgia law, “no abortion shall be performed if the unborn child has a detectable human heartbeat except (a) in the event of a medical emergency or medically futile pregnancy.”

In the state, “medical emergency” is defined as “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 … No such greater risk shall be deemed to exist if … the pregnant woman will purposefully engage in conduct which she intends to result in her death or in substantial and irreversible physical impairment of a major bodily function.”

Piedmont Henry Hospital has not responded to PEOPLE’s request for comment.

“We actually have the substantiated proof of something we already knew—that abortion bans kill people,” Mini Timmaraju, president of the abortion-rights groupReproductive Freedom for All, said, according toMother Jones.

“It cannot go on.”

source: people.com