U.S. Sen. JD Vance and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz both agreed during their debate Tuesday night that Amber Thurman should be alive today.
But they disagreed on whether Georgia’s abortion ban was to blame for her death and sparred over whether wider access to abortion is the best way to prevent similar loss of life.
“There is a very real chance that had Amber Thurman lived in Minnesota, she would be alive today,” Walz said.
He signed a bill into law in 2023 providing wide access to abortion in his state while Georgia law prohibits abortions after fetal cardiac activity is detected, usually at about six weeks of pregnancy. A judge ruled this week that the Georgia ban violated the state constitution, although an appeal is likely.
Amber Thurman died in August 2022 while the six-week ban was in effect and following a 20-hour wait for treatment at a metro Atlanta hospital. She had gone there seeking treatment after traveling to North Carolina to get a medicated abortion and experiencing complications.
A review by the state’s maternal mortality review board determined Thurman’s death was preventable, ProPublica reported last month.
Vance said that he wished Thurman was still alive but accused Walz and fellow Democrats of seeking to allow late-term abortions without restrictions. He said Republicans would focus on supporting families and protecting the rights of those who object to abortion.
“We can be a big and diverse country where we respect people’s freedom of conscience,” he said, “and make the country more pro-baby and pro-family.”
Thurman’s family released a statement shortly after the debate saying that Walz, not Vance, best represented their point of view.
“Amber’s tragic death was a direct result of Georgia’s archaic and dangerously restrictive abortion laws, which denied her the lifesaving care she so desperately needed,” the statement said. “We strongly condemn the Republican platform that seeks to further restrict women’s access to necessary health care under the false guise of protection.”
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