Amber Thurman dies of sepsis at Georgia hospital that delayed a standard D&C procedure for 20 hours under the state's abortion ban

On August 19, 2022, Amber Thurman, a 28-year-old Georgia woman and single mother, died of sepsis at Piedmont Henry Hospital after physicians delayed performing a dilation and curettage (D&C) to clear incomplete abortion medication she had taken. Georgia's six-week abortion ban, which took effect July 20, 2022, had criminalized D&C procedures in certain circumstances and threatened doctors with up to 10 years in prison. Hospital records reviewed by ProPublica showed 20 hours elapsed between Thurman's arrival and the procedure. Georgia's state maternal mortality review committee, reviewing her case in August 2024, concluded her death was "preventable" and that the delay in care had a "large" impact on the outcome. Georgia disbanded the entire committee within months of ProPublica publishing its findings.