Dems look to force votes on emergency abortion as abortion pill deaths make headlines

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., Senate President Pro tempore Patty Murray, D-Wash., and others revealed on Tuesday their plans to force votes on abortion-related bills in the wake of two pregnant women’s deaths after taking abortion pills.

In floor remarks, Schumer said, “What happened in Georgia is a direct example of how abortion bans continue to exacerbate the racial disparities in maternal death. Amber’s doctors didn’t perform the medical procedures they knew she needed because of Georgia’s law.”

“It was the law overruling their good medical judgment. She went into septic shock and her heart stopped – all while doctors did everything except the medically-sound treatment she needed,” he said, in reference to ProPublica‘s reporting on the deaths of Candi Miller and Amber Nicole Thurman. 

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Senate Democrats will look to hold a vote on a bill to codify Roe v. Wade on Wednesday. (Getty Images)

Both of the women died in Georgia after taking abortion pills and suffering complications. In Thurman’s case, according to ProPublica, doctors waited a prolonged period of time before performing the necessary dilation and curettage (D&C) procedure, which is not an abortion. Miller was found unresponsive by her family after suffering from the pill’s complication. 

“Today, as you heard from the leader, we’re going to try and pass this resolution, and we’re going to see if the Senate can come together with one voice and tell women, ‘women, we want to put your health first,'” Murray said at a press conference. 

The Washington Democrat will attempt on Tuesday afternoon to advance her resolution to affirm “the basic right to emergency health care, including abortion care” for a vote by unanimous consent. However, this is expected to be objected to by a Republican. 

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Senate Majority Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer speaks during a news conference in front of the U.S. Capitol on May 21, 2024 in Washington, DC. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)

The Democrats’ plan to seek forced votes on abortion items comes in response to the deaths of Miller and Thurman, which have caused a dispute over what is to blame. 

“Amber Thurman and Candi Miller are two Black mothers who lost their lives in Georgia due to the state’s Draconian abortion ban. Women who could have survived if they had been able to get the health care they needed. These are the consequences of Trump abortion bans,” Murray claimed earlier this month. 

Roe v. Wade was overturned in the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision in 2022, which turned the authority to determine limitations on abortion back to the states. Former President Trump’s appointment of Supreme Court Justices Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett is largely credited for giving conservative justices the majority and pushing the decision over the edge. 

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People protest in response to the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization ruling in front of the U.S. Supreme Court on June 24, 2022 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Brandon Bell/Getty Images)

Other Democrats have echoed Murray’s sentiment, including Vice President Kamala Harris, blaming the overturn of Roe v. Wade for the women’s deaths. 

Some conservative leaders and groups have pushed back on Democrats’ characterization of the women’s deaths, including top pro-life organization Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America. 

SBA Pro-Life America President Marjorie Dannenfelser said in a statement, “Pro-life laws are clear, yet politicians and the media are sowing confusion at women’s expense. Across the nation, pro-life laws allow doctors to provide emergency care, and doctors who fail to provide necessary medical care should be held accountable.”

“Pro-abortion Democrats and the abortion industry fearmonger and exploit tragedies resulting from abortions themselves, like the deaths of Amber Thurman and Candi Miller – leaving women confused about the law and scared to get care in emergency situations. These lies have real consequences, and we urge pro-abortion Democrats to value women’s safety over limitless abortion,” she said. 

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Senator James Lankford speaks during a Senate Finance Committee hearing in the Dirksen Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, U.S., October 19, 2021.  (Reuters)

During a Senate Finance Committee hearing on “Threats to Reproductive Health Care,” Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., questioned Dr. Christina Francis, an obstetrician and gynecologist, and CEO of the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists, on the safety of the abortion pill. 

“Obviously, we have recent cases of Candi Miller dying from a chemical abortion. FDA has changed the rules of late, to be able to say, ‘don’t give us information about consequences. Don’t even report that. Don’t turn it in.’ You don’t have to get to a doctor to be able to get access to a chemical abortions. There’s been lots of conversations I’ve heard from my Democratic colleagues saying chemical abortions are as safe as Tylenol. Can you tell me a little bit more about chemical abortions?” he asked. 

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“Incomplete abortion, where all of the tissue, from all of the fetal tissue and placental tissue don’t pass after taking these drugs, occurs in 5 to 10 percent of women. That may sound like a small number, but when you look at the number of chemical abortions that are done in this country every year, that’s a significant number of women that are experiencing this complication,” Francis responded. 

She further warned that abortion pills are not on par with Tylenol, remarking, “These are not safe drugs, and women deserve to have accurate information about that.”