ATLANTA — The family of a metro Atlanta woman who died after taking an abortion pill and not receiving timely care is speaking out.
Shanette Williams remembers the last time she saw her 28-year-old daughter, Amber Thurmond, alive in 2022.
Amber had taken an abortion pill but did not completely expel all the fetal tissue. She went to Piedmont Henry Hospital, but it took 20 hours before she received the surgery she needed.
“She began to cry. My baby was extremely strong,” Williams said.
Amber did not survive the surgery, leaving behind a young son.
“She went from talking about the pain to ‘Mom, you’re going to have to take care of my son,’” Williams said.
For two years after Amber’s death, Williams struggled with grief.
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“I shut down, 24 months in a dark room because the only thing I felt was what more could I have done. What did I miss? What did I miss? I’m her mom. I was supposed to know,” she said.
A recent report from Georgia’s maternal mortality review committee ruled that Amber’s death was preventable.
A reporter linked the report to Amber’s death records and notified her family, who learned with the rest of the world that Amber was one of two Georgia women who died due to lack of access to abortions or delays in care.
“To find out with the world, to find out with the world, it’s like the wound that wasn’t healed opened wider,” Williams said.
Channel 2 Action News reached out to lawmakers behind Georgia’s Heartbeat law, which bans abortion after a heartbeat is detected.
Senator Ed Setzler commented on Amber’s death, saying:
“This young mother was killed by a 9-week chemical abortion that Georgia banned in 2019 because it is dangerous for women and deadly for their children. Georgia’s law gave these shamefully unprepared doctors every legal tool they needed to save this mother’s life.”
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