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Minnesota Gov. and Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Walz speaks during the Vice Presidential debate with U.S. Sen. and Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance, hosted by CBS News at the CBS Broadcast Center in New York City on October 1, 2024. | Source: ANGELA WEISS / Getty
The family of a Black woman whose preventable death from a rare and severe infection that went untreated for more than 17 hours by hospital staff after she sought an abortion in Georgia praised Gov. Tim Walz for keeping her name alive during a powerful moment at the vice presidential debate on Tuesday night.
Walz squared off against Republican vice presidential nominee and Ohio Sen. JD Vance during the debate in New York City, where the topic turned to reproductive rights.
Kamala Harris' running mate used the opportunity to tell the story of Amber Thurman to juxtapose prenatal services in Republican-led states with those in Minnesota, the state he's been governor of for nearly the past six years.
Walz noted that "There's a very real chance that if Amber Thurman lived in Minnesota, she would be alive today."
Thurman's family said they were "grateful" to Walz for helping to keep her name alive.
"Tonight, we commend Governor Tim Walz for telling Amber's story and for his unwavering commitment to defending women's reproductive rights. Amber's tragic death was a direct result of Georgia's archaic and dangerously restrictive abortion laws, which denied her the life-saving care she so desperately needed," Thurman's family said in a statement sent to NewsOne. "We strongly condemn the Republican platform that seeks to further restrict women's access to necessary healthcare under the false guise of protection. We are grieving an unimaginable loss that no family should have to endure. We must continue to fight against laws that put women's lives at risk, and we are grateful to leaders like Governor Walz who advocate for common sense laws while exhibiting such compassion."
Thurman's family added: "The fight for justice for Amber is a fight for every woman's right to make decisions about her own body and access the medical care she needs. We will not stop until these dangerous laws are repealed, and no more lives are lost. Until then, we must keep saying her name: Amber Thurman!"
Source: Screenshot/Ben Crump
What happened to Amber Thurman?
According to a report published last month by ProPublica, days after Georgia's abortion ban took effect on July 20, 2022, Thurman learned she was pregnant and that her pregnancy had just passed six weeks. Her access to abortion was blocked. The Dobbs decision that struck down Roe v. Wade and left women's healthcare up to the states offered her limited options.
Given her home state's new law, Thurman scheduled a dilation and curettage (D&C) in North Carolina, where abortion was still permitted.
On Aug. 13, 2022, Thurman legally and under medical supervision sought to terminate a pregnancy with safe and effective abortion pills provided to her by a women's clinic in North Carolina. Thurman was one of the few women who suffered complications from the pills.
The common and simple procedure that would have resolved the medical crisis she found herself in was delayed for nearly a full day after she arrived at Atlanta's Piedmont Hospital. Without that delay, Thurman would almost certainly be alive today.
Thurman's death serves as a tragic reminder of the urgent need to protect Black expectant mothers in the U.S., who experience the highest maternal mortality rate in the nation -- 69.9 deaths per 100,000 live births in 2021, nearly three times that of white women, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
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