It is with heavy hearts that we acknowledge the preventable deaths of Amber Nicole Thurman and Candi Miller in Georgia. Just months after the overturning of Roe V Wade, Amber and Candi died needlessly due to Georgia’s abortion ban.
Amber Nicole Thurman was a mother to a six year old boy with aspirations to attend nursing school. She had just secured her own apartment when she learned she was pregnant. Due to the abortion ban in Georgia, Amber was forced to travel to North Carolina for care. There, she was given abortion pills and sent home.
While abortion pills are a safe and effective way to terminate a pregnancy, rare complications can happen. For Amber, she did not expel all the fetal tissue, and what remained inside of her caused sepsis.
Treatment for this complication is typically simple and routine – antibiotics and a D&C. But due to Georgia’s abortion ban, the latter was no longer legal. Doctors waited 20 hours – until Amber Nicole Thurman was experiencing organ failure, to provide surgical intervention. By then, it was too late.
Candi Miller was also a mother. Her doctors had warned her that due to chronic health conditions another pregnancy would put her life at risk. Due to Georgia’s abortion ban, Candi had no option but to order abortion pills online.
When Candi developed the same complication as Amber, she laid in bed at home for days in agony. Candi Miller feared seeking treatment due to Georgia’s abortion ban. Due to the inaccessibility of abortion care in her state, Candi died at home and was found unresponsive by her son.
These Deaths Were Preventable
Investigation by ProPublica revealed that Amber Nicole Thurman and Candi Miller’s deaths were found to be preventable by the state’s maternal mortality review committee. Had they had access to abortion care in Georgia, they would have had doctors able to assist them with their abortion and address their complications. They would have been able to seek hospital treatment and gone home alive after simple, safe, effective D&C procedures.
These Are Just The Two We Know Of
Amber Nicole Thurman and Candi Miller both died within months of the overturning of Roe and the implementation of an abortion ban in Georgia. The investigation into their deaths to determine that lack of abortion care access was the cause took time. Their families needed time to grieve before making their stories known to the public and opening themselves up to fear, intimidation, and ridicule from anti-abortion extremists.
It has been two years since Amber and Candi needlessly died. In that time, it is inevitable more women have died preventable deaths due to Donald Trump’s abortion bans. We have not heard their stories yet. But we will. Since Donald Trump allowed abortion bans across the United States with his radical Supreme Court appointees, countless women have suffered and died due to the denial of care. Thanks to Donald Trump’s anti-abortion agenda, we will only hear more of these stories as time goes on.
Our Lives Are On The Line. Vote Like It.
Amber Nicole Thurman and Candi Miller did not need to die. The only way we can prevent future deaths due to the denial of abortion care is to stop Donald Trump from taking office. We must make sure no anti-abortion politician, at any level of government, is elected in November. We must make sure our courts are lead by judges who understand our fundamental right to abortion care.
To find out which candidates on your ballot are pro-choice, we recommend these voter guides: https://milist.org/2024-endorsements-3/ and https://www.voteprochoice.us/
And to register to vote or check your registration status so that you can help fight back, click right here!