Harris attributes deaths of two Georgia women to ‘Trump abortion ban’
The vice president delivered her remarks during a speech in Atlanta.
TroibNews 
Kamala Harris is placing the deaths of two women from Georgia directly at the feet of Donald Trump.
During a campaign event in Atlanta on Friday, Harris passionately connected Trump’s appointment of three conservative Supreme Court justices—essential to the overturning of Roe v. Wade—to the tragic deaths of two women in the state. ProPublica reported that these women either were denied or feared seeking emergency medical care due to Georgia's abortion ban, which restricts abortions after roughly six weeks of pregnancy.
The vice president cautioned that such tragedies could become increasingly common in a potential second Trump administration.
“Now we know that at least two women — and those are only the stories we know here in the state of Georgia — died because of a Trump abortion ban,” she stated. “The reality is, for every story we hear of the suffering under Trump abortion bans, there are so many of the stories we’re not hearing, but where suffering is happening every day in our country.”
This recent rhetoric marks Harris's ongoing effort to hold Trump accountable for the sweeping abortion restrictions that have emerged in more than a third of states since the fall of Roe. For weeks, she has been sharing stories of women denied abortions in emergencies and families struggling to access fertility services like in vitro fertilization, highlighting the major implications of such laws.
Democrats are hoping worries about abortion and reproductive health will encourage voter turnout as they aim to counter Trump on other issues, such as the economy and immigration, that may be more favorable to him.
In response, Trump has attempted to mitigate the abortion controversy that has plagued Republicans by advocating for a state-level approach. He criticized Florida’s six-week abortion ban—similar to Georgia’s—as “too short” and expressed support for exceptions in cases of rape, incest, or to save a mother's life. He also indicated he would not endorse a national abortion ban, though he has not definitively stated whether he would veto such legislation.
"President Trump has always supported exceptions for rape, incest, and the life of the mother, which Georgia's law provides. With those exceptions in place, it’s unclear why doctors did not swiftly act to protect the lives of mothers,” said Trump spokesperson Karoline Leavitt in a statement. “President Trump has long been consistent in supporting the rights of states to make decisions on abortion and has been very clear that he will NOT sign a federal ban when he is back in the White House.”
At the rally, however, Harris challenged those claims. She highlighted the deaths in Georgia as a direct impact of allowing state lawmakers to control abortion access. She pointed out Trump’s decision to oppose an abortion-rights ballot initiative in Florida—a measure that would secure the right to abortion until fetal viability in the state constitution—would uphold Florida’s six-week ban. She cautioned against the possibility of Trump signing a national abortion ban if reelected.
“Let’s understand, if he is elected again as president, Donald Trump will go further. We know what we’re up against, and we must speak of the stakes,” Harris said.
She also criticized conservative Southern legislators for enacting strict abortion laws while facing high maternal mortality rates—a concern that Harris prioritizes. Every Southern state, except Virginia, has placed restrictions on abortion access either at conception or after six weeks of pregnancy, a time frame in which many individuals do not yet realize they are pregnant.
“These hypocrites want to start talking about, this is in the best interest of women and children. Well, where you been? Where you been when it comes to taking care of the women and children of America?” she said. “Where you been? How dare they. How dare they. Come on.”
Before becoming the Democratic presidential nominee, Harris was frequently used by the White House to discuss the extensive impact of state abortion restrictions over the past two years, including in Indiana, Iowa, and Arizona.
However, her remarks on Friday highlighted a significant difference from President Joe Biden and other Democrats regarding the abortion debate. She emphasized not only the cases of rape survivors or those facing unviable pregnancies, but also women seeking abortions for other reasons. The Democratic National Convention recently showcased such narratives, and the Georgia women exemplify these stories.
Harris took over six minutes at the Atlanta event to recount the tragic case of 28-year-old Amber Nicole Thurman, who needed emergency care after taking abortion pills out of state but was later denied timely treatment due to Georgia’s abortion ban. After 20 hours of waiting for surgery, it was ultimately too late.
“We will speak her name,” Harris declared, leading the crowd in chanting, “Amber Rose Thurman.”
Candi Miller, the other deceased woman, was a 41-year-old mother of three who ordered abortion pills online due to fears for her health because of several chronic conditions. She, too, faced delays in receiving medical care and tragically died at home after failing to expel all the fetal tissue.
According to ProPublica, a state maternal health review board determined that both deaths were preventable.
As the first vice president to visit an abortion clinic, Harris has consistently positioned herself as a more adept messenger on abortion issues than Biden, who has been hesitant to discuss the topic openly. She met with Thurman’s family, including her mother, Shannette Williams, prior to a livestream event with Oprah Winfrey in Michigan.
Anti-abortion organizations have condemned the deaths of Thurman and Miller, but they attribute the blame to the doctors involved and the abortion pills, rather than Georgia’s legal framework.
“We mourn the senseless loss of Amber, Candi, and their unborn children. We agree their deaths were preventable,” stated Katie Daniel, SBA Pro-Life America’s state policy director. “But let’s be absolutely clear: Georgia’s law and every pro-life state law calls on doctors to act in circumstances just like theirs.”
However, medical practitioners nationwide have argued that the language regarding exceptions in state abortion laws often lacks clarity, creating confusion over their ability to terminate pregnancies in urgent situations. Many doctors are fearful of the legal repercussions they might face should their medical decisions come under scrutiny in court. In Texas, for instance, performing an abortion can result in a felony charge punishable by up to life in prison along with steep fines.
This ambiguity has fostered a chilling effect, causing healthcare providers to hesitate when treating patients who could be facing medical emergencies. As seen in Thurman’s case, some pregnant individuals are denied care or forced to wait until their conditions worsen.
Harris addressed concerns from medical professionals during a live-streamed discussion with Oprah in Detroit the previous evening and reiterated these points during her rally in Georgia on Friday.
“Trump and his running mate, they’ll talk about, ‘But I do believe in the exceptions to save the mother’s life.’ OK, let’s break that down, shall we? Let’s break that down,” she remarked. “We’re saying that we’re going to create public policy that says that a doctor, a health care provider, will only kick in to give the care that somebody needs if they’re about to die? Think about what we are saying right now.”
During the recent Democratic National Convention, storytelling on abortion took center stage. Three women—Amanda Zurawski, Kaitlyn Joshua, and Hadley Duvall—emerged as significant advocates for Harris’s campaign, illustrating the critical nature of access to abortion care.
This week, Harris's campaign unveiled an advertisement featuring Duvall, who became pregnant through sexual abuse at a young age and later suffered a miscarriage. In conjunction, the Reproductive Freedom for All Fund launched an advertisement highlighting Thurman’s story, backed by significant funding.
Additionally, Harris criticized Senate Republicans for blocking legislation aimed at safeguarding access to in vitro fertilization. Senate Democrats have advocated for this bill following a controversial ruling from the Alabama Supreme Court that temporarily halted certain IVF practices, while Republicans contend the bill is overly expansive.
“Now consider, among the multitude of ironies, the fact that on the one hand, these extremists want to tell women they don't have the freedom to end an unwanted pregnancy,” Harris stated, “and on the other hand, these extremists are telling women and their partners they don't have the freedom to start a family.”
Frederick R Cook contributed to this report for TROIB News
During a campaign event in Atlanta on Friday, Harris passionately connected Trump’s appointment of three conservative Supreme Court justices—essential to the overturning of Roe v. Wade—to the tragic deaths of two women in the state. ProPublica reported that these women either were denied or feared seeking emergency medical care due to Georgia's abortion ban, which restricts abortions after roughly six weeks of pregnancy.
The vice president cautioned that such tragedies could become increasingly common in a potential second Trump administration.
“Now we know that at least two women — and those are only the stories we know here in the state of Georgia — died because of a Trump abortion ban,” she stated. “The reality is, for every story we hear of the suffering under Trump abortion bans, there are so many of the stories we’re not hearing, but where suffering is happening every day in our country.”
This recent rhetoric marks Harris's ongoing effort to hold Trump accountable for the sweeping abortion restrictions that have emerged in more than a third of states since the fall of Roe. For weeks, she has been sharing stories of women denied abortions in emergencies and families struggling to access fertility services like in vitro fertilization, highlighting the major implications of such laws.
Democrats are hoping worries about abortion and reproductive health will encourage voter turnout as they aim to counter Trump on other issues, such as the economy and immigration, that may be more favorable to him.
In response, Trump has attempted to mitigate the abortion controversy that has plagued Republicans by advocating for a state-level approach. He criticized Florida’s six-week abortion ban—similar to Georgia’s—as “too short” and expressed support for exceptions in cases of rape, incest, or to save a mother's life. He also indicated he would not endorse a national abortion ban, though he has not definitively stated whether he would veto such legislation.
"President Trump has always supported exceptions for rape, incest, and the life of the mother, which Georgia's law provides. With those exceptions in place, it’s unclear why doctors did not swiftly act to protect the lives of mothers,” said Trump spokesperson Karoline Leavitt in a statement. “President Trump has long been consistent in supporting the rights of states to make decisions on abortion and has been very clear that he will NOT sign a federal ban when he is back in the White House.”
At the rally, however, Harris challenged those claims. She highlighted the deaths in Georgia as a direct impact of allowing state lawmakers to control abortion access. She pointed out Trump’s decision to oppose an abortion-rights ballot initiative in Florida—a measure that would secure the right to abortion until fetal viability in the state constitution—would uphold Florida’s six-week ban. She cautioned against the possibility of Trump signing a national abortion ban if reelected.
“Let’s understand, if he is elected again as president, Donald Trump will go further. We know what we’re up against, and we must speak of the stakes,” Harris said.
She also criticized conservative Southern legislators for enacting strict abortion laws while facing high maternal mortality rates—a concern that Harris prioritizes. Every Southern state, except Virginia, has placed restrictions on abortion access either at conception or after six weeks of pregnancy, a time frame in which many individuals do not yet realize they are pregnant.
“These hypocrites want to start talking about, this is in the best interest of women and children. Well, where you been? Where you been when it comes to taking care of the women and children of America?” she said. “Where you been? How dare they. How dare they. Come on.”
Before becoming the Democratic presidential nominee, Harris was frequently used by the White House to discuss the extensive impact of state abortion restrictions over the past two years, including in Indiana, Iowa, and Arizona.
However, her remarks on Friday highlighted a significant difference from President Joe Biden and other Democrats regarding the abortion debate. She emphasized not only the cases of rape survivors or those facing unviable pregnancies, but also women seeking abortions for other reasons. The Democratic National Convention recently showcased such narratives, and the Georgia women exemplify these stories.
Harris took over six minutes at the Atlanta event to recount the tragic case of 28-year-old Amber Nicole Thurman, who needed emergency care after taking abortion pills out of state but was later denied timely treatment due to Georgia’s abortion ban. After 20 hours of waiting for surgery, it was ultimately too late.
“We will speak her name,” Harris declared, leading the crowd in chanting, “Amber Rose Thurman.”
Candi Miller, the other deceased woman, was a 41-year-old mother of three who ordered abortion pills online due to fears for her health because of several chronic conditions. She, too, faced delays in receiving medical care and tragically died at home after failing to expel all the fetal tissue.
According to ProPublica, a state maternal health review board determined that both deaths were preventable.
As the first vice president to visit an abortion clinic, Harris has consistently positioned herself as a more adept messenger on abortion issues than Biden, who has been hesitant to discuss the topic openly. She met with Thurman’s family, including her mother, Shannette Williams, prior to a livestream event with Oprah Winfrey in Michigan.
Anti-abortion organizations have condemned the deaths of Thurman and Miller, but they attribute the blame to the doctors involved and the abortion pills, rather than Georgia’s legal framework.
“We mourn the senseless loss of Amber, Candi, and their unborn children. We agree their deaths were preventable,” stated Katie Daniel, SBA Pro-Life America’s state policy director. “But let’s be absolutely clear: Georgia’s law and every pro-life state law calls on doctors to act in circumstances just like theirs.”
However, medical practitioners nationwide have argued that the language regarding exceptions in state abortion laws often lacks clarity, creating confusion over their ability to terminate pregnancies in urgent situations. Many doctors are fearful of the legal repercussions they might face should their medical decisions come under scrutiny in court. In Texas, for instance, performing an abortion can result in a felony charge punishable by up to life in prison along with steep fines.
This ambiguity has fostered a chilling effect, causing healthcare providers to hesitate when treating patients who could be facing medical emergencies. As seen in Thurman’s case, some pregnant individuals are denied care or forced to wait until their conditions worsen.
Harris addressed concerns from medical professionals during a live-streamed discussion with Oprah in Detroit the previous evening and reiterated these points during her rally in Georgia on Friday.
“Trump and his running mate, they’ll talk about, ‘But I do believe in the exceptions to save the mother’s life.’ OK, let’s break that down, shall we? Let’s break that down,” she remarked. “We’re saying that we’re going to create public policy that says that a doctor, a health care provider, will only kick in to give the care that somebody needs if they’re about to die? Think about what we are saying right now.”
During the recent Democratic National Convention, storytelling on abortion took center stage. Three women—Amanda Zurawski, Kaitlyn Joshua, and Hadley Duvall—emerged as significant advocates for Harris’s campaign, illustrating the critical nature of access to abortion care.
This week, Harris's campaign unveiled an advertisement featuring Duvall, who became pregnant through sexual abuse at a young age and later suffered a miscarriage. In conjunction, the Reproductive Freedom for All Fund launched an advertisement highlighting Thurman’s story, backed by significant funding.
Additionally, Harris criticized Senate Republicans for blocking legislation aimed at safeguarding access to in vitro fertilization. Senate Democrats have advocated for this bill following a controversial ruling from the Alabama Supreme Court that temporarily halted certain IVF practices, while Republicans contend the bill is overly expansive.
“Now consider, among the multitude of ironies, the fact that on the one hand, these extremists want to tell women they don't have the freedom to end an unwanted pregnancy,” Harris stated, “and on the other hand, these extremists are telling women and their partners they don't have the freedom to start a family.”
Frederick R Cook contributed to this report for TROIB News
