By now, you’ve probably seen the viral news story about a Georgia woman who tragically died from a botched, out-of-state chemical abortion.
But instead of blaming the botched abortion for her death, leftist media outlet ProPublica is blaming Georgia pro-life laws—despite the fact that every pro-life law across the nation allows physicians to provide medically necessary care for women.
Our friends at the American Association of Pro-Life OBGYNs summarized the medical malpractice that led to Amber Thurman’s death (we’ve edited their statement, which was originally published on the social media platform X, for readability):
Days before her death, Amber was given the abortion drug mifepristone at 9 weeks gestation with twins at a clinic in North Carolina. She drives home to Georgia, and takes the second abortion drug, misoprostol, at home a day later. These drugs were the root cause of the following events.
Days later, Amber presented to the hospital with bleeding, vomiting blood, and passing out. She was found to have abdominal tenderness, critically elevated white blood cell count, low blood pressure, foul smelling vaginal discharge and retained tissue in her uterus on ultrasound.
Her diagnosis, which any first year resident could make, was endometritis due to an incomplete abortion with probable sepsis. The standard of care for treatment would be immediate antibiotics and D&C.
After nearly three hours, Amber was FINALLY started on antibiotics. Her OB/GYN considered a D&C procedure the next day—even though this violates the standard of care. A D&C should have been immediate and concurrent with the initiation of antibiotics (and was not prevented by Georgia’s law).
Approximately 20 hours after arriving in critical condition to the hospital, Amber was taken to the operating room for a D&C. She died on the operating table.
This is one of the most clear cut cases of medical malpractice that we have ever seen, based on the information that is available publicly. The standard of care on her arrival was an immediate D&C procedure and initiation of antibiotics. Had this been done, she most likely would be alive today.
Under the pro-life laws of every state across the country – not only in Georgia, but also in Idaho – physicians are allowed to provide medically necessary care to pregnant women, including a D&C procedure following a botched abortion.
But in Amber’s case, medical providers violated the standard of care, needlessly waiting hours to provide antibiotics and perform the necessary procedure.
As AAPLOG notes, “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.”
Perhaps instead of distorting the facts to push an agenda, the media should start focusing on the real issue: the botched chemical abortion and the unnecessary delay in medical care that actually cost Amber her life.
