Read more
The Deadly Consequences of Abortion Bans on Women’s Health
Amber Nicole Thurman was 28 years old. She loved being a mother to her 6-year-old son and had dreams of attending nursing school. Tragically, she became one of the first known victims of the abortion bans enacted after the overturn of Roe v. Wade, according to a recent ProPublica report.
Thurman lived in Georgia, a state that bans abortion after approximately six weeks, or two weeks after a missed period. In August 2022, she died after a local hospital delayed treating her for 20 hours following an incomplete medication abortion. A state committee, which included ten doctors who reviewed her case, concluded that her death could likely have been prevented with timely medical intervention. The delay in care, as seen in other cases across the country, was likely due to physicians fearing repercussions under the state’s restrictive abortion laws.
In the wake of the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision, coat-hanger imagery became a symbol of protest, recalling the dangerous lengths women went to in the mid-20th century to end pregnancies. But while abortion care has evolved significantly since the pre-Roe era—with the advent of abortion pills and access to vital information through online and community networks—advocates warned that post-Dobbs abortion bans would lead to preventable deaths. They predicted these tragedies would resemble the story of Savita Halappanavar, who died in 2012 after being denied emergency care in an Irish hospital, more than that of Gerri Santoro, who bled to death alone in a Connecticut motel room in 1964 after attempting a self-induced abortion.
These two women, separated by time and geography, became symbols in the global fight for abortion rights. In 1973, Ms. Magazine published the haunting crime scene photo of Santoro’s death, which became a powerful catalyst for the U.S. abortion-rights movement. Half a century later, Halappanavar’s case sparked Ireland’s successful push to legalize abortion, highlighting the clear and deadly consequences of denying necessary medical care.
Amber Nicole Thurman’s tragic death follows a hauntingly similar pattern to that of Savita Halappanavar, as reported by ProPublica. After Georgia's abortion ban forced Thurman to travel to North Carolina for her procedure, complications arose. Delayed by traffic, she missed her scheduled surgical abortion and had to choose between rescheduling or taking the medication abortion, as she was about nine or ten weeks pregnant. Having already missed a day of work, arranged childcare, and traveled for hours, she opted for the two-pill medication regimen.
While medication abortions are generally safe—with studies showing they carry fewer risks than common drugs like Tylenol or Viagra—something went wrong after Thurman took the second pill, misoprostol. Days later, she began experiencing severe pain and excessive bleeding. Five days after her procedure, on August 18, 2022, Thurman collapsed at home after vomiting blood. Her partner called an ambulance, and she was rushed to Piedmont Henry Hospital in Georgia.
Once at the hospital, doctors noted that Thurman was suffering from an incomplete, septic abortion. Her symptoms included dangerously high white-blood-cell counts, low blood pressure, and retained tissue in her uterus, along with a foul odor during her pelvic exam—all signs pointing to the need for an immediate dilation and curettage (D&C) procedure. However, because Thurman disclosed that she had taken medication for her abortion, her case didn’t qualify as a "spontaneous abortion" under Georgia’s vague laws. Fearing the potential legal repercussions of violating the state’s strict abortion ban, her doctors hesitated to perform the necessary D&C.
Although Thurman’s condition worsened, with sepsis rapidly setting in, the D&C was delayed. It wasn’t until 12 hours after she arrived at the hospital that doctors finally attempted the procedure. By then, it was too late. Thurman was transferred to the ICU, but her organs were failing. She underwent a hysterectomy in a desperate attempt to save her life, but her heart stopped during surgery.
While anti-abortion advocates may argue that Thurman’s death is unrelated to Georgia's abortion ban, her case underscores the dangerous ripple effects of restrictive laws. Critics might claim abortion pills are unsafe or that doctors misunderstood the law, as was suggested in the case of Yeniifer Alvarez-Estrada Glick, a Texas woman who also died after being denied abortion care. Yet stories like Thurman’s and others that have surfaced since the Dobbs decision tell a different story: women are dying because doctors are afraid to act.
Social media has become a platform for countless women to share their experiences of being denied essential care for miscarriages and ectopic pregnancies. Cases like those of Jaci Statton, Anya Cook, Kyleigh Thurman, and Amanda Zurawski—who all suffered life-threatening pregnancy complications due to abortion bans—illustrate the severity of this post-Dobbs healthcare crisis.
Amber Nicole Thurman could have been any of these women, and her story is a stark reminder of the profound consequences of the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. Had abortion remained a constitutional right, Thurman might have received timely care in her home state of Georgia. Instead, she was forced to travel, take a medication abortion against her preference, and suffer while doctors hesitated to act.
Her death is a direct result of the anti-abortion policies that have proliferated in the wake of Dobbs—and it should never have happened.
0 Reviews