Mother of woman who died of sepsis after abortion pill endorses pro-abortion candidate

The mother of a woman who died after taking the abortion pill has announced her support for former Georgia state Senator Jason Esteves as candidate for governor, in hopes of overturning the state's pro-life law.

Key Takeaways:

• Shanette Williams is the mother of Amber Thurman, who died in Georgia in 2022 after taking the abortion pill.

• Williams is supporting former state Sen. Jason Esteves in his bid for governor because he wants to overturn the state's pro-life law.

• Thurman died of sepsis, a known complication of the abortion pill, after doctors failed to give her a timely D&C to remove the infected tissue from her uterus.

• Georgia's Life Act does not prohibit the D&C procedure, but prohibits its use to intentionally kill a preborn baby who has a heartbeat.

• The Georgia law did not prevent doctors from treating Thurman. Rather, they delayed treatment for an unknown reason, and her death could be the result of medical neglect.

The Details:

Shanette Williams, the mother of Amber Thurman, a woman who died in Georgia in 2022 after taking the abortion pill, is supporting Esteves for governor because he is pro-abortion. Williams called Esteves a "champion for women," saying she trusts him to fight to overturn the state's pro-life law protecting most preborn children from abortion once their heartbeat is detectable (usually at about six weeks, though the heart first begins beating and pumping blood at three weeks after fertilization).

Baby Development Week by Week

During a legislative hearing in June, Williams said that Thurman died of sepsis, which she believes could have been avoided with a D&C procedure that is used in both first-trimester abortions and miscarriage treatment.

“She didn’t just die. She was murdered by the people who took the oath to do no harm,” Williams said at the hearing.

"My daughter's death has been the greatest loss of my life, but I refuse to stay silent," she said. "I have to fight — and I know Jason will fight alongside me."

Esteves said, "We must continue to speak Amber Nicole Thurman's name — but that alone is not enough. When I'm governor, I will fight to overturn Georgia's abortion ban and restore reproductive freedom in our state."

Thurman suffered complications from the abortion pill

Capitol Beat reported on Williams' endorsement of Esteves, saying, "Williams’ daughter, Amber Nicole Thurman, died after doctors delayed removing remnants of her fetus after she self-aborted with pills."

Thurman was never denied an abortion, and she received the abortion she wanted after traveling to North Carolina.

Implying that she "self-aborted" is an attempt to present her abortion as one carried out without medical guidance. Thurman saw an abortionist, who gave her the abortion pill and sent her on her way. It's a practice the abortion industry has been moving towards for years. Thurman took the abortion pill at the abortion facility, likely believing it to be safe (thanks to decades of propaganda and lies) and then took the second pill at home, where she ultimately experienced a common complication of the abortion pill: infection.

The infection didn't happen because Georgia has a pro-life law. Overturning Georgia's Life Act will not fix the real problem: abortion comes with real risks.

A recent analysis, “The Abortion Pill Harms Women,” revealed that nearly 11% of women (10.93%) who take mifepristone experience sepsis, infection, hemorrhaging, or other serious or life-threatening adverse events. This means one in ten women experience at least one serious complication from taking mifepristone within 45 days — 22 times higher than the “less than 0.5 percent” serious adverse events rate reported by the FDA on the mifepristone label, according to this study.

Thurman's death was likely the result of medical neglect

Williams argued that her daughter's death could have been avoided if doctors had not withheld the D&C for at least 17 hours. She's right, but she mistakenly blames the state's pro-life law for this tragedy.

A D&C is a procedure used to diagnose and treat numerous uterine conditions, as well as miscarriage when medically warranted, and is not merely used for induced abortion procedures. D&Cs are not prohibited in Georgia, but deliberately killing a baby using a D&C procedure is. Doctors could have and should have carried out a D&C on Thurman; her baby had already died.

Thurman's complications began quickly after taking the abortion pill, but after four days, she hadn't sought help, and her symptoms had worsened. After she vomited blood, her boyfriend called for an ambulance. It was determined that Thurman was experiencing sepsis, a serious, life-threatening infection that is a known risk of the abortion pill. Sepsis can take hold very quickly, and treatment must not be delayed.

Mifepristone (the first drug in the abortion pill regimen) comes with a “black box warning.” This warning states that “patients with serious bacterial infections and sepsis can present without fever, bacteremia or significant findings on pelvic examination. A high index of suspicion is needed to rule out serious infection and sepsis.” It also says, “Prolonged heavy bleeding may be a sign of incomplete abortion or other complications and prompt medical or surgical intervention may be needed.”

This appears to be what happened to Thurman.

The standard treatment for sepsis is administering antibiotics and removing the source of infection immediately; in this case, the source appears to have been retained pregnancy tissue.

Thurman was given antibiotics within three hours of her arrival, but the D&C was not carried out until the following day. By then, Thurman was experiencing organ failure, and her heart stopped during the procedure.

Doctors didn't say why they didn't carry out the D&C sooner, and Thurman's chart shows that it had been part of the treatment plan. In addition, Thurman was experiencing a medical emergency. Even if her child had a heartbeat, the law would have allowed a D&C to be carried out. There was no legal reason for the delay.

This all indicates that Thurman didn't die because of the pro-life law, but because of medical negligence, which tragically happens in every state regardless of the state's laws on abortion.

In fact, data on maternal deaths in Georgia are similar to data on maternal deaths in Illinois, where abortion is fully legal. From 2018 to 2020, the two states saw the same number of pregnancy-related deaths: 113. In Illinois, 91% of those deaths were “potentially preventable due to clinical, system, social, community, or patient factors.” This means about 102 of those 113 maternal deaths in Illinois from 2018 to 2020 were considered preventable. In comparison, of the 113 maternal deaths in Georgia from 2018 to 2020, 101 were reportedly preventable, and each occurred prior to the overturning of Roe v. Wade and prior to the enactment of Georgia’s Life Act. 

Georgia's pro-life law is clear on what an abortion is

In reporting on the story, Capitol Beat wrote, "Democrats say the law is 'vague' and creates an 'air of criminality' around women who miscarry or need an abortion for a medical reason."

If the Georgia Life Act "creates an 'air of criminality,'" it's only because the media has misrepresented it on such a large scale. Under the law, women can't be prosecuted for an abortion; in fact, women can take civil action against the person who carried out the abortion on them. So why would a woman be prosecuted for a miscarriage? She wouldn't.

The law states, "Any woman upon whom an abortion is performed in violation of this Code section may recover in a civil action from the person who engaged in such violation all damages available to her under Georgia law for any torts."

Furthermore, the law is not vague. It clearly states what is and isn't an abortion. “Abortion” is defined in the law as (emphasis added):

 … the act of using, prescribing, or administering any instrument, substance, device, or other means with the purpose to terminate a pregnancy with knowledge that termination will, with reasonable likelihood, cause the death of an unborn child.

The intention of an induced abortion is to kill the baby. Thurman's child had already died by abortion when she arrived at the hospital, and a deadly infection was raging in her body as a result. If she didn't go to the hospital at first because she was afraid she would be arrested, her fear was unfounded. But that fear was likely the result of pro-abortion propaganda spewed by the media for that very purpose.

Now, Thurman's death continues to be exploited in the name of abortion — the initial act that led to her death.

The Bottom Line:

Amber Thurman did not die because of Georgia's pro-life law. She died as a result of an abortion pill complication that went untreated for too long.

It remains unclear why doctors waited to treat Thurman, but pregnant women are too often denied the care they need due to medical negligence. Preventable maternal deaths are unfortunately a common occurrence, no matter what state a woman lives in.

Fighting to undo Georgia's pro-life law wouldn't have saved Thurman, and it wouldn't save anyone else, either.