‘This could have been prevented’: Family of woman killed when she couldn’t get abortion announces lawsuit plans

The family of Amber Thurman, the 28-year-old Georgia woman who died in 2022 after “preventable” delays in abortion care under the state’s restrictive law, plans to bring a medical malpractice claim.

After taking abortion medication, Thurman experienced a rare complication in which some fetal tissue remained in her body, landing her in the hospital where she fought for her life, vomiting, and passing in and out of consciousness.

She needed a routine procedure to remove the remaining tissue — but doctors waited 20 hours before operating, as they were tangled up in the state’s “extreme abortion laws,” Ben Crump, a lawyer for the family, said at a press conference on Tuesday.

Georgia law banning most abortions after around six weeks of pregnancy came into effect on July 20, 2022, just weeks after the Supreme Court ruled on the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, overturning Roe v. Wade.

A state committee, made up of 10 doctors and other experts, recently found that Thurman’s death was “preventable,” ProPublica reported last week. The hospital’s delay in performing the dilation and curettage (D&C) had a “large” impact on her death, the committee determined.

“When I found out that this was preventable…that wound that has never healed opened wider,” Shanette Williams, Thurman’s mother, said while holding up a photo of her daughter at the news conference. “It is so disheartening. It is heartbreaking. It is upsetting. Every emotion that you could think that a mother could have, I have it.”

Crump argued that both federal and state laws were in play.

The attorney referred to EMTALA, a federal law that requires hospitals offering emergency services to provide stabilizing treatment to all patients. “You have a duty to stabilize her and then give her the option to go to another hospital facility. But you cannot let her suffer and die on your hospital bed when the death is ‘preventable,’” Crump said.

Georgia-based attorney Michael Harper also argued that Thurman should have been saved under Georgia’s six-week abortion law — which criminalizes abortions with limited exceptions.

Thurman, however, would have qualified for not one, but two exceptions laid out in Georgia’s “heartbeat” law, Harper said. The law allowed for an abortion to be performed if a doctor determines there is a medical emergency or if the fetus is not viable — both of which were true for the 28-year-old. “There should have been no confusion,” Harper said.

A judge in Georgia struck down the state’s six-week abortion ban on Monday — years too late to save Thurman. Crump said the decision was “bittersweet for this family” as it “wasn’t in place to save Amber’s life,” but can hopefully save others from the same fate.

Her mother said days after she died, Thurman, a medical assistant, was accepted into nursing school. “Now that dream is shattered,” she said. Crump said Amber was trying to give her and her son a “better life.

“My sister is gone. I would hate to have this happen to another mother, sister, aunt. But Amber is gone. Does she really have to be a sacrifice?” CJ Williams, Thurman’s sister, said at the news conference. “It hurts so bad because this could have been prevented. Someone has to be held accountable.”

“We want justice. We’re going to get justice for Amber,” she added.

Williams mentioned Thurman’s son, who was just six years old when tragedy struck. She said her nephew often wonders about his mom. “Why did they take his best friend?” he asks.

Another sister Andrika, also recalled the pain of having to tell her nephew that his mother wasn’t coming back. She said she told the child at the time: “We can’t see her. But we can feel her in our hearts.”

Crump said he plans to bring a medical malpractice claim on behalf of Thurman’s family and son. “We believe there was nothing preventing these doctors from acting,” Crump said. The attorney called doctors “negligent” for not informing the patient’s mother about her daughter’s declining health and leaving the young mother in her hospital bed to vomit and “turn blue.”

The family didn’t have a choice to take Amber to another hospital because hospital staff didn’t inform her family about what was going on, Crump argued.

Thurman’s death is the latest tragedy demonstrating the dangers of the state-level abortion bans that have cropped since Roe was overturned in 2022. Donald Trump appointed three Supreme Court justices — all of whom ruled in favor of overturning the landmark ruling. That decision has led to chaos and confusion as doctors and patients try to navigate the restrictive bans.

“If we don’t do something about this, this could be your family’s reality too,” Crump said.