US abortion law:

Woman received medical help too late and died

In the US, the abortion debate continues to heat up.

(Bild: APA/Getty Images via AFP/GETTY IMAGES/JOE RAEDLE)

Due to the restrictive abortion law in the US state of Georgia, a woman has died after complications following an abortion. The report is shocking.

According to the US research platform Propublica, it is the first death officially classified as "preventable" in connection with an abortion in the USA. 28-year-old Amber Nicole Thurman had developed a rare complication after taking an abortion pill. She died during an emergency operation. According to the committee's assessment, the doctors performed a presumably life-saving procedure too late, the Propublica report stated. In Georgia, a law had been passed shortly beforehand that criminalized the removal of the uterus and provided for only a few exceptions. Doctors warned that the regulations were vague and difficult to interpret.

Legal situation prevented rapid help
Thurman received medical help too late in August 2022 due to the legal situation, Propublica reported, citing information from a US state committee that investigated the case.

"Amber would still be alive if (former President) Donald Trump and (Georgia Governor) Brian Kemp had not enforced the abortion ban," said activist Mini Timmaraju from the NGO Reproductive Freedom for All, expressing her dismay. "They have blood on their hands."

Restrictive abortion regulations had come into force in Georgia and 21 other US states after the Supreme Court abolished the nationwide right to abortion, which had been in force for almost 50 years, in June 2022 and placed the responsibility for abortion law in the hands of the states.

"This is the result of the abortion bans"
 Thurman had traveled to the state of North Carolina to have an abortion because of Georgia's ban on abortions after the sixth week of pregnancy. In the days after taking the abortion pill, however, complications arose and she had to be hospitalized in Georgia.

The doctors diagnosed acute sepsis. But despite the rapid deterioration of her health, they waited 17 hours before performing the curettage of the uterus. Thurman died during the operation. "She died in the hospital, surrounded by medical staff who could have saved her life," feminist author Jessica Valenti wrote on X. "This is the result of abortion bans."