Lawrence O’Donnell shares mother’s emotional story while slamming Trump, Bush over Amber Thurman’s death

NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK: MSNBC anchor Lawrence O’Donnell shared his mother's emotional story as he described a medical procedure his mother, Frances Marie Buckley, once needed while slamming former presidents Donald Trump and George W Bush over Amber Nicole Thurman's death in 2022.

He shared his story after a ProPublica report stated that the legislation enacted in Georgia has led to the deaths of at least two women, per the Daily Beast.

Georgia’s Republican-controlled state Legislature passed a law in 2019 prohibiting abortion at six weeks. After the Supreme Court’s overturned Roe v Wade’s constitutional right to abortion in June 2022, the ban went into effect.

Georgia became one of the first places to close the door on virtually all abortions, and many other GOP-run states soon followed.

Lawrence O’Donnell shares his mother's emotional story

Lawrence O’Donnell said on 'The Last Word' on Tuesday, September 17, "ProPublica is now reporting about the death of a 28-year-old woman in Georgia who died because of what George W Bush and Donald Trump did to her when they appointed those Supreme Court justices."

He then read from the story, which noted that the woman needed a procedure called dilation and curettage (D&C), which removes tissue from the inside of the uterus. However, Georgia’s Republican legislators decided that performing the routine procedure would be counted as a felony. 

O'Donnell told his viewers that his mother, Frances Marie Buckley, required that same procedure when he was six years old. 

He said, "My mother had given birth to five healthy children, but she kept going. She was trying, trying to have a sister for her only daughter. Trying for one more. And she suffered a miscarriage, and she routinely had a D&C at a local hospital in Boston years before abortion was legal because a D&C has absolutely nothing to do with abortion."

He further explained, "None of the Catholic nuns teaching me at my elementary school then thought my mother should not have that procedure. Our beloved Monsignor Brandley knew that when mothers in St Brendan’s Parish had miscarriages, doctors should give them whatever treatment they needed."

He stated, "Anti-abortion, Catholic doctors performed the procedure routinely. There wasn’t a single Irish Catholic politician in Boston—including the mayor and district attorney—who ever tried to interfere with that medical procedure."

He also added, "Their sisters were having that procedure, their daughters were having that procedure routinely in anti-abortion Boston because it has nothing to do with abortion. Nothing."

Lawrence O'Donnell relates current scenario with his mother's situation

Lawrence O’Donnell tried to relate the current scenario where what is playing out right now had happened to his mother years ago.

He said, "If a politician interfered with that procedure and killed——killed my mother when I was six years old, who is going to tell that boy? Who is going to tell that six-year-old how his mother died and who is really responsible?"

Frances Marie O’Donnell died at the age of 93 on August 14, 2011, at her East Falmouth home. She was married to Lawrence F O'Donnell Sr for 46 years.

The couple raised their family in Dorchester and Quincy and bought their Falmouth residence as a summer home in 1962. She moved to Falmouth in 1982, according to Chapman Funeral.

Donnell said to do what Republicans in Georgia have done is "sheer madness, criminal madness, murderous madness".

He also slammed Georgia Republicans for blocking a Democratic bill to provide a nationwide right to IVF treatments.

Did strict anti-abortion laws cause Amber Thurman's death?

Amber Nicole Thurman arrived at a North Carolina clinic to have an abortion in August 2022 as she could not get one in her home state of Georgia. She was six weeks pregnant and Georgia had enacted a ban forbidding abortion after six weeks of gestation, per People.

The clinic prescribed her pregnancy-ending pills mifepristone and misoprostol, which she took back at home. A few days later, she developed a rare complication where she didn’t expel all the fetal tissue, per ProPublica.

She began bleeding heavily and struggled with pain, and eventually lost consciousness at home, leading her to seek treatment at Piedmont Henry Hospital in Stockbridge. However, due to Georgia’s strict anti-abortion laws, doctors didn't proceed with a dilation and curettage.

Thurman died in August 2022 and a state investigation found that her death was "preventable". ProPublica stated that Thurman’s case is the first known "preventable" case linked to abortion.

Internet supports Lawrence O'Donnell as he shares mother's emotional story

People on the internet showed support toward Lawrence O'Donnell as he shared his mother's emotional story while slamming Donald Trump and George W Bush over Amber Nicole Thurman's death in 2022.

A user wrote on X, "Thank God someone’s calling it out", while one added, "Gotta say, I agree with,Lawrence!!"

A person also stated, "Very powerful. Well said, Lawrence", whereas one mentioned, "I love Lawrence O’Donald…..and he was on fire tonight! He blames the death of Amber Thurman on Trump and Vance! Outlawing the D&C procedure is criminal!"

A user also wrote, "Women are not going back! #Kamala."

This article contains remarks made on the Internet by individual people and organizations. MEAWW cannot confirm them independently and does not support claims or opinions being made online.