A major anti-abortion group is seizing on the reported death of two Georgia women from untreated rare complications of medication abortion to flip the script on Democrats, who have blamed their deaths on the state’s abortion ban.
The partner PAC associated with Susan B. Anthony (SBA) Pro-Life America launched a $500,000 television and digital ad campaign this week accusing Democrats, including Vice President Harris, of spreading “deadly misinformation” about the women’s deaths.
The ads will reach cable and broadcast markets in Georgia including Atlanta, Augusta, Macon and Savannah, while digital ads will be targeted at Atlanta-area swing voters, the organization said.
According to a recent ProPublica report, Amber Nicole Thurman died in 2022 after waiting 20 hours in a suburban Atlanta hospital before doctors tried to give her the treatment she needed for an incomplete abortion.
A state medical board review said she died largely because of the hospital’s delay in treating her and called it “preventable.”
Pro Publica also reported on the death of Candi Miller, who died after declining to seek medical care for complications from abortion medication. Her family said she was afraid of getting medical help once it was clear the abortion was incomplete.
Harris and Democrats have said the deaths are a direct result of an abortion ban made possible by the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade.
At a hastily arranged speech in Atlanta last week after the stories broke, Harris spoke about the pain experienced by women in states with abortion bans, placing the blame for their suffering squarely on Republicans and former President Trump.
Georgia law bans abortion after fetal cardiac activity is detected, which is usually around six weeks into a pregnancy and before many know they are pregnant. Both women died shortly after the law took effect in 2022.
But SBA, along with Republicans like Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, argue that Georgia law doesn’t prohibit the treatment the women needed. The doctors who may have been afraid to treat Thurman were confused because of Democrats’ misleading messaging, they said.
“Georgia’s law, like pro-life laws in every other state, allows emergency care, miscarriage care and treatment for ectopic pregnancy. The laws do not penalize women who have abortions and they use plain, commonly accepted legal language. There would be no confusion if abortion advocates were not spreading confusion,” SBA Pro-Life America President Marjorie Dannenfelser said in a statement.
But doctors in states with abortion bans across the country have said the exceptions to such bans are often unclear and contradictory. They’ve expressed fear that even treatments that are not abortions, like the routine procedure Thurman needed, could still be used against them.
Health care providers say state abortion laws contain too much uncertainty and don’t protect them. As a result, stories about pregnant patients in medical distress being turned away from hospitals or being told to wait in a parking lot until their life is in danger are becoming common.