Sharon Sullivan, RN | September 26, 2024 | SHARE: 
Over the last few weeks, it has been reported that in 2022 two Georgia women died following at-home chemical abortions. The media is wrongly blaming their deaths on Georgia’s abortion laws, adopted following the overturning of Roe v. Wade. Even Kamala Harris, the 2024 Democratic candidate for president, has weighed in on the subject. She too is distorting the tragic stories of these women. The truth reveals that the risks associated with chemical abortions, and the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) repeal of important safeguards, were the real causes of these women’s untimely deaths.
Harris and the media have laid the responsibility for the women’s fatalities on Georgia’s abortion law, which limits abortion to the first six weeks of pregnancy. They have used this as a campaign issue as well, sadly misrepresenting to all women across the country the real and present danger that chemical abortions pose to their physical health. Instead, they allege that abortion bans and fear of prosecution, lead to bad outcomes which are otherwise preventable.
Amber Thurman, one of the deceased women, traveled to North Carolina for her abortion. Her pregnancy was past Georgia’s six-week gestational limit for abortion, and North Carolina, which has a 12-week limit for most abortions, was her closest option. She originally intended to get a surgical abortion, but she missed her appointment due to traffic issues. Unable to perform the surgical abortion, the clinic offered Amber a 2-drug regimen so she could have a chemical abortion at home. At nine weeks gestation, Amber’s pregnancy was still within the FDA’s current approved timeline for a chemical abortion. However, as we have reported before, the FDA relaxed important safety guidelines in 2016 which previously limited chemical abortion to a maximum of seven weeks gestation.
Reports indicate that on August 13, 2022, in an NC clinic, Amber sat through a counselling session, signed a consent form, and took the first drug, mifepristone. The consent included information about complications to look for and instructions on when to seek emergency help. It is unclear if the clinic knew that she was carrying twins. The following day she took the second drug, misoprostol, at home as prescribed. Four days later, on August 18, 2022, Amber was rushed to the hospital for excessive bleeding, bloody vomiting, and an episode of fainting. Amber had retained fetal tissue during the chemical abortion and developed a life-threatening infection. The hospital treated her with IV fluids and antibiotics, but waited approximately twenty hours to perform a much-needed dilation and curettage (D&C) procedure. The procedure is used to remove tissues from the uterus in incomplete abortions and in miscarriages. During the D&C, and eventual hysterectomy, Amber died. The cause of death was sepsis, a very real complication of abortion.
The media and pro-abortion activists say that the hospital staff delayed performing the D&C for Amber due to fear of prosecution, since she was past the six-week mark of her pregnancy, the time at which most abortions become illegal in Georgia. But, like all states across this country, when the life of a mother is at risk, a D&C is not only permittable, but often essential. Moreover, after five days of actively attempting to abort her children, it is unlikely that Amber’s pregnancy was still viable. It was the responsibility of the healthcare providers to quickly perform a D&C to remove the remaining fetal tissue that was causing her infection.
Georgia’s Candi Miller also lost her life in 2022 during another failed chemical abortion. Candi received the medications through the mail, something prohibited under the FDA’s original mifepristone safeguards. She purchased the medications online for about $80 from Aid Access. According to an article in ProPublica, “The organization, based in the Netherlands, is devoted to expanding abortion access to places where it is not legal. Patients contact a doctor in Europe who sends them pills from a supplier in India. According to one researcher, Aid Access serves about 7,000 patients a month in the U.S., nearly 90% of them in states with abortion bans or severe restrictions.”
After painfully suffering for days at home, Candi was found deceased in her bed. She too had retained fetal tissue in her body. She did not go for medical help, where professionals would have likely performed a lifesaving D&C. Instead, she stayed home, and either ignored or was unaware of the serious complications she was experiencing. We will never know if she had been properly informed regarding the risks, or how far along she was in her pregnancy.
In addition to fetal tissue found in her uterus, Candi’s autopsy also showed a lethal combination of drugs, including fentanyl, in her system. The media is also blaming Candi’s death on Georgia’s abortion laws, but without a required visit to a doctor, how could she have known the danger she was in?
Pro-life advocates have sounded the alarm for years regarding the health risks associated with chemical abortions. As we reported in June of this year, some individual doctors and members of the Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine have even argued before the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) that, “the FDA’s reversal of important restrictions on the chemical abortion pill mifepristone were unlawful, and placed women across the country at risk for serious complications from a chemical abortion.” Sadly, SCOTUS ruled that the plaintiffs lacked standing before the court.
The deaths of Amber and Candi are tragic, particularly since they were preventable. While we mourn their loss, we must also remember that abortion always leads to the death of at least one person—the innocent unborn child. Women need to know how dangerous abortion can be, especially those performed alone at home. North Carolina’s less-restrictive abortion laws have made the state an abortion destination for many. It is not a title we should aspire to. There is little we can currently do to change this right now, but it is imperative to be informed with the truth. And remember, those who can do something about our laws await our votes this November. Above all else, join with us in praying that the truth will reach the masses and that the hearts and minds of people will be changed.
