Harris cites two Georgia deaths to address abortion issue: NPR

ATLANTA – Vice President Harris called former President Donald Trump the “architect” of a health crisis caused by restrictions on abortion access in several states following the overturn of the U.S. Supreme Court decision. Roe v. Wade.

In a speech in Atlanta on Friday, Harris called stricter abortion laws “immoral” and accused Republicans of their “longstanding neglect” of the issue of maternal mortality.

“These hypocrites want to start saying, ‘This is in the best interest of women and children,'” she said. “So where have you been? … How dare they? How dare they? Come on.”

Harris is trying to capitalize on the abortion issue in her election campaign, referring on Friday to a ProPublica report about two women in the state of Georgia whose deaths were deemed “preventable” by a state committee of maternal health experts after the new abortion law came into force.

The investigations released this week tell the stories of two women, Amber Thurman and Candi Miller, who died from complications related to abortion under the penalty imposed by the US state of Georgia, which effectively bans most abortions except in cases of rape, incest and the life of the mother.

“There’s one word – preventable – and another word: predictable,” Harris said. “And the reality is that for every story about the suffering under Trump’s abortion bans, there are so many stories we’re not hearing, where there is suffering in our country every day.”

Trump has boasted that he is nominating the Supreme Court justices who helped overturn the constitutional right to abortion.

Thurman and Miller died of complications that occurred after their bodies failed to fully expel all fetal tissue following medication abortions, according to records viewed by ProPublica. Thurman died after doctors waited more than 20 hours to treat an infection; Miller died at home without seeking medical treatment “due to current pregnancy and abortion legislation,” her family told ProPublica. NPR has not independently confirmed the reporting.

Some anti-abortion activists refuse to attribute these deaths to abortion laws, blaming instead the Biden administration’s looser regulations on medication abortion.

“Amber Thurman and Candi Miller did not die because a law denied them treatment,” Carol Tobias, president of National Right to Life, said in a statement. The group blamed the government for the deaths for tightening safety requirements when it made medication abortions more accessible, as well as for a lack of adequate medical treatment.

Republicans also contradicted Harris’ portrayal of the women’s deaths. A Republican spokesman claimed that the vice president was spreading “misinformation.”

“Georgia not only created clear exceptions for rape, incest and the life of the mother, but also provided for the provision of necessary care in the event of a medical emergency,” Republican National Committee spokeswoman Morgan Ackley said in a statement. “There was no reason why doctors couldn’t act quickly to protect the lives of mothers.”

Friday’s event comes as the presidential campaign enters its final six-week stretch. Georgia is one of the swing states likely to determine the winner, and abortion rights remain a key issue for Democrats and Democratic-leaning voters.

Harris was introduced by Dr. Keisha Reddick, a Savannah-based gynecologist who said stricter abortion restrictions in Georgia and other states “put women’s health and lives at risk.”

“I see fear in the eyes of my patients,” she said. “I see women who have left the state to get the care they need and those who are unable to. I see medical students and other physicians avoiding coming to our state, packing up their lives and moving across the country to build a life where they won’t go to jail for keeping their oath.”

Reddick said this has resulted in fewer health care providers in Georgia, a state with one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the country.

Harris also spoke about abortion at a campaign event with Oprah Winfrey in Michigan on Thursday. She will hold a campaign rally in Madison, Wisconsin, later on Friday.