Trump jokes he'll get 'better ratings' than family of woman who likely died due to Georgia abortion law

ATLANTA, GEORGIA: Donald Trump made the Fox News audience laugh when he appeared to make light of Amber Thurman's tragic case. Thurman, 28, a resident of Georgia, died in 2022 after taking abortion pills she got from North Carolina.

Things reportedly went south when not all the pregnancy tissue cleared out. She ended up in a Georgia emergency room, bleeding and in pain. Normally, doctors would do a procedure called dilation and curettage to clear things out, but they hesitated thanks to Georgia's strict abortion laws.

Instead of acting quickly, they waited 20 hours before finally doing the procedure. By then it was too late, and she tragically died from sepsis. A review from Georgia’s Department of Public Health later found that Thurman’s death might have been prevented if she’d gotten that procedure earlier.

Donald Trump jokes about townhall ratings

Fast forward to this past Wednesday—Donald Trump was on 'The Faulkner Focus' for a town hall in Georgia, where the event was centered on women's issues.

“I want to share with you Senators Warnock and Ossoff, [former] Atlanta Mayor [Keisha] Bottoms, and Amber Thurman’s family have come out on a press call,” Faulkner told the former president. “And they’re doing what’s called a prebuttal to our town hall right now.”

Trump responded by saying, "Oh, that's nice." And then — without missing a beat — he quipped to Faulkner, “You’ll get better ratings, I promise.” The crowd loved it, breaking into laughter and cheers.

Meanwhile, on that press call, Thurman’s mother Shanette Williams got emotional as she talked about losing her daughter. She recalled, “When I looked at her and reassured her that she was in the best care, I had no clue, I had no clue that this could have been prevented. And when I found that out, everything changed.”

Ever since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade, several red and purple states have rushed to put more abortion restrictions in place. Georgia, for instance, banned most abortions after six weeks and required a 24-hour waiting period for those seeking abortions earlier on.

Thurman's family has had a tough time as her story became part of political debates. They recently called on Kamala Harris and Tim Walz to stop turning Amber’s death into a campaign talking point.

Kamala Harris and Tim Walz accused of 'overusing' Amber's case

Even though both Kamala Harris and her running mate Tim Walz have used Amber Thurman’s story on the campaign trail—sometimes getting the facts mixed up—her family has been clear that they just want to move on from the pain.

“I can see [Harris] using that as the only tool in Georgia against Trump,” Thurman’s stepfather Elijah Warren, 43, told the New York Post.

The mental health technician insisted that the story is “being overused,” before adding, “She is going to push that; I expect it. But it’s too much. It’s kind of like a funeral happening over and over again every time I see that."

Warren — who’s currently separated from Amber’s mother Shanette and has two children with her — believes the real issue was with the hospital’s decision-making.

“They should have watched over my stepdaughter… The abortion already happened. There wasn’t a heartbeat going on. They should have just cleaned the tissue; that would have saved her life,” he said.

Ironically, Amber herself was a medical assistant and dreamed of becoming a nurse one day. Her best friend shared that Amber sought the abortion to maintain the stability she had recently found in her life.

Harris mentioned Amber’s tragic death in a speech in Georgia last month and again during an appearance on the 'Call Her Daddy' podcast.

“She was loved. And she should be alive today,” Harris said in Georgia. But she also falsely claimed that Georgia law forces doctors to wait until a patient is on the brink of death before they can step in.

Walz also brought up her story during the vice presidential debate on October 1, but he got some of the details wrong too. He falsely claimed that she had to drive “600 miles to North Carolina” and talked about her making multiple trips between Georgia and North Carolina.

Republicans have been quick to accuse Harris and Walz of using Amber’s story to push their agenda and blame Trump’s policies for her death.