Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris attended a town hall style forum hosted by Oprah Winfrey in Michigan on Thursday night. Harris got questions on most of the top issues of the 2024 campaign cycle, including guns and immigration — but one piece on abortion proved to be an emotional focal point that continues to shape the conversation.
That moment originally focused on Amber Thurman, a 28-year-old black woman from Georgia, who appeared in a recent ProPublica reports. Thurman died in August 2022 after doctors hesitated to treat her after complications from a medication abortion.
Then in 2013, the Supreme Court ruled Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which repealed the guaranteed right to abortion Roe v. Wade, Georgia has implemented a strict abortion law that severely limits the abortion care available to those more than six weeks pregnant.
Thurman was at least nine weeks pregnant; State law allows doctors in Georgia to perform the required procedure — a dilation and curettage, or D&C — only When the mother’s life is in danger. Doing so earlier could land a doctor in prison for up to 10 years. At this time, The hospital reportedly had no guidelines or policies How to navigate the law and determine whether a pregnant person’s life was in danger. However, the ProPublica report suggests that Thurman’s doctors waited too long — 20 hours after he got to his local hospital — before operating on him.
A state review found that Thurman’s death was “preventable,” a theme her family emphasized when they spoke with Harris and Winfrey.
“They let her die because of some stupid abortion ban,” Thurman’s older sister said. “They treated him like he was another number.”
Harris offered her condolences to Thurman’s family and used the moment to argue that Thurman’s story underscores the need for a change for greater abortion rights — as well as the kind of abortion policies Democrats continue to pursue.
Democrats continue to expand abortion rights
In view of this Dobbsgreater than a Dozens of states passed strict abortion bans; About a dozen others, including Georgia, have laws that severely restrict who can have an abortion.
Georgia law, Life ActIt was initially passed in 2019 and stayed in place last year. This makes abortion illegal if fetal heart activity is detected, which usually occurs around five or six weeks of gestation. It allows abortions for “medical emergencies” but is vague about when doctors should declare an emergency. Define them A “situation in which an abortion is necessary to prevent death of the pregnant woman or significant and irreversible physical impairment of a major bodily function of the pregnant woman.”
In many states, efforts have been made to overturn abortion laws – or prevent them from being enacted. In Michigan, where the town hall was held, voters included abortion rights 2023 in the state constitution. In view of this DobbsBallot initiatives to protect abortion access have all passed in Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Vermont, Montana and California. And this year, a new slate of states will decide whether to protect access.
“There are 10 states with ballot initiatives for this November,” said David Cohen, a Drexel University law professor who focuses on gender and abortion access. “Five of these states will change the current laws in those states from … [ending] A complete abortion is prohibited [in] south dakota and to mitigate a six-week ban in Missouri, Florida, a 15-week ban in Arizona and a 12-week ban in Nebraska.
Democrats have tied themselves to these initiatives, hoping they will increase voter turnout. the party Abortion has been successfully campaigned In the 2022 midterms, and made abortion a factor There were Democratic victories in several special elections. They hope to make the issue a central part in this election as well. According to Pew Research CenterAbortion is a top five issue for Democratic voters and a top 10 issue for voters overall
Harris has repeatedly attacked former President Donald Trump as responsible for the end Ro“The former president chose three members of the United States Supreme Court with the intent that they would repeal protections,” he argued Thursday. Roe v. Wade – and they did as he wished.”
Harris, meanwhile, has said that, as president, he would approve federal legislation protecting abortion rights. The current model for that law is 2023 Women’s Health Protection Actwhich would prevent state governments from imposing restrictions on abortion rights pre-emptively. (Of course, Harris probably needs a Democratic majority in both cases house And The Senate — which currently seems unlikely — to pass federal abortion protections.)
For his part, Trump bragged About being a flipped president Roand argued that abortion should be policy Released to the states. he He said will not approve A federal abortion ban is given another term. She has sought to distance herself from Project 2025, a conservative vision of the United States that includes severe restrictions on women’s health care, rights and freedoms.
But that’s not to say that a second Trump term might not make it more difficult to access abortion, including through the method he used the first time: court appointments.
