Georgia Fires Entire Committee on Maternal Mortality Over Leaked Report on Abortion Ban Deaths

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Georgia Fires Entire Committee on Maternal Mortality Over Leaked Report on Abortion Ban Deaths

The heartbreaking story of Amber Thurman was first reported in ProPublica earlier this year

www.meidasplus.com

Georgia Fires Entire Committee on Maternal Mortality Over Leaked Report on Abortion Ban Deaths​

The heartbreaking story of Amber Thurman was first reported in ProPublica earlier this year​

Troy Matthews

Nov 22, 2024

Georgia's top health official, public health commissioner Dr. Kathleen Toomey, has fired every member of the state committee on maternal mortality over leaked stories of women in Georgia who died unnecessarily due to restrictive abortion bans.

The stories of the two women who died, Amber Thurman and Candi Miller, were reported in ProPublica earlier this year. The stories laid bare how women are increasingly put in danger in a healthcare system in Georgia that requires doctors to abandon ethical care to adhere to extremist anti-choice ideologies.

Toomey said in a letter ⎻ published by ProPublica and dated November 8th, the week of Donald Trump's election ⎻ that whomever leaked the stories from the committee violated confidentiality agreements.

"Confidential information provided to the Maternal Mortality Review Committee was inappropriately shared with outside individuals," Toomey wrote. "Even though this disclosure was investigated, the investigation was unable to uncover which individual(s) disclosed confidential information."

"Therefore, effective immediately the current MMRC is disbanded, and all member seats will be filled through a new application process."

The move from Toomey, and ultimately from Governor Brian Kemp, will likely have the effect of silencing future committees from being critical of state abortion laws. Every state has maternal mortality review boards whose job is to gather data on deaths of women in childbirth and determine if the circumstances were preventable.

"They did what they were supposed to do. This is why we need them," said Monica Simpson, executive director of SisterSong, one of the groups challenging Georgia’s abortion ban in court. "To have this abrupt disbandment, my concern is what we are going to lose in the process, in terms of time and data?"

Other states with abortion bans like Texas have used similar methods, like disbanding committees and creating duplicate positions, to fill review board seats with anti-abortion activists. One such committee member from Texas, Nakeenya Wilson, was forced to reapply for her position after speaking out against the Texas abortion law, but was not reappointed.

"What message is being said to the families who lost their loved ones?" Wilson said. "There’s going to be even less accountability for this to not happen again."

Amber Thurman passed away from an infection after she was unable to get an abortion procedure to remove dead fetal tissue from her body. The procedure, a dilation and curettage (D&C), could land a doctor in Georgia in prison for up to ten years in a post-Roe United States. It is a highly common procedure, and her death was labeled preventable by the Georgia MMRC.

 

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1/21
@JessicaValenti
I know everyone is talking about Matt Gaetz but please don't miss this:

Georgia fired every single person on its maternal mortality review committee. Why? They didn't like that reporters found out that the state's ban killed two women
Georgia Dismissed All Members of Maternal Mortality Committee After ProPublica Obtained Internal Details of Two Deaths



2/21
@JessicaValenti
I wrote about this in my book - this is how they cover up our deaths. In Idaho, they disbanded the maternal mortality review committee altogether; in Texas, they put a well-known anti-abortion activist on there to skew the data.



3/21
@JessicaValenti
I guarantee you that when Georgia replaces those seats on the maternal mortality review committee, they're going to put anti-abortion activists on there. Just watch.



4/21
@MeachamDr
They’re so “pro-life” in Georgia



5/21
@wiley_inc
Its gotten far worse since Dobbs

6/21
@Yorkiedoglover1
Republicans do not see us human. They see us as property



7/21
@PetersonPaulin5
It’s horrible what they are doing to women and girls. All healthcare should be run by healthcare professionals not by rapists and child abusers. How they call themselves pro-life yet kill of them mothers.



8/21
@SouthernGlendon
Abortion pills ended their lives. It had nothing to do with the Georgia heartbeat law.



9/21
@woodifitweretru
Wait til they find out how many miscarriages were caused by the Covid Vax.



10/21
@DirkTheDaring76
There is no evidence of this claim. You're tailoring the stories to fit what you want, not the truth. That's disingenuous.



11/21
@CarlKingofDucks
I love the women larping Handmaid's Tale.

You don't get to use abortion as a contraceptive anymore. Get over it. There are still many options to prevent unwanted pregnancy if you wish to sleep around.



12/21
@CaptSarcasm2728
Republican playbook, lie, deny, deflect



13/21
@kedenke
No



14/21
@DottieHoward10
So name these women… how did they die? Sick of abortionists lies



15/21
@Vraghubir1
This is how red states do it. They want to control the flow of data, so they can control the narrative. Project 2025 is NOT NEW, they just got bold enough to write it down.



16/21
@Jaralax1974
Nice lies good job



17/21
@taradublinrocks
JFC



18/21
@JoshuaMargeris1
that didn't happen



19/21
@KatherineMorte8




20/21
@ELaywell4885
This is the same tired rhetoric as employed by the DNC.



21/21
@1961MLB
Lie!




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1/21
@MollieKatzen
Good morning.
The state of Georgia has fired its entire Maternal Mortality Committee.

Now they won't have to deal with those pesky statistics of, you know, dead women.



2/21
@rosmance
Mollie, I love your tweets as much as your cookbooks (a lot). Are you a bluesky woman as well? I'm leaving this platform soon for good.



3/21
@MollieKatzen
Hi Lisa, thanks for checking in. Mollie Katzen (@molliekatzen.bsky.social)



4/21
@CynthiaAllison
This is worse than when Louisiana @SenBillCassidy - who is a Doctor - said “Maternal mortality rates would be right in line with the norm - if you excluded Black women.”



5/21
@gloriaf29260631
Didn’t another pregnant woman die this week, from Sepsis? How many died during Covid? How many died in school shootings? How many died from republicans repealing safeguards on our meat? How many kids were in cages?



6/21
@Marjori62371172
Can you provide the source? I think it’s important to show that so when people push back



7/21
@SaltLifeGA
Here’s the link if anyone needs it.

It looks like the committee was removed due to a leak. It doesn’t mean the Maternal Mortality Committee was terminated, it is just under investigation and most likely will be replaced with new members.
https://www.11alive.com/video/news/...ation/85-d52aec80-5079-4dea-bdb0-bc361ff5b166



8/21
@Folkmusings_
The news of MMRC's dismissal incited further rebuke this week among pro-choice advocates, who claimed it was an effort to silence warning about the dangers of abortion bans.
In a statement, the director Reproductive Freedom for All Georgia Alicia Stallworth called the move "a scare tactic meant to stop full investigations into the circumstances of pregnant women’s deaths across the state".



9/21
@NoPoke
I'd like to read their justification for this action. Do you have more details?



10/21
@madlaine63
Good grief that won't make the disastrous statistics on abortion bans causing deaths disappear.



11/21
@babsforlife
b*stards.



12/21
@cusnSue
Georgia axes maternal health panel after abortion deaths leak



13/21
@RaskinsThe
@livelikelefty



14/21
@maseyo
The Math and Political Science of Abortion.

Individual rights are for individuals
All the religions are created equal

[Quoted tweet]
x.com/i/article/182752046678…


15/21
@Aquaannaleo
Outrageous! Shame shame shame.



16/21
@Diamon333
Wow



17/21
@Molly93901778
Details are so annoying



18/21
@BethOCo46384149
It's always good to have a strategy for these things.



19/21
@LauraMiner100




20/21
@lwalshmill
As if ignoring it will change things



21/21
@berniewink
So basically these women disappear. They call this protection.




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1/8
@DoomScroling
Georgia has fired all members of the Maternal Mortality Review Committee after the committee concluded that several women's deaths had been preventable and that information was made public by ProPublica.

Make no mistake, this is about the state of Georgia wanting to conceal the horrific reality that these unethical abortion bans are resulting in preventable deaths.

H/T @msminx1717



https://video.twimg.com/ext_tw_video/1860027239472955392/pu/vid/avc1/576x1024/RqOcXhOL2hp7Brj8.mp4

2/8
@DoomScroling
Full Article Here: Georgia Dismissed All Members of Maternal Mortality Committee After ProPublica Obtained Internal Details of Two Deaths

3/8
@atkinsong561
If 4 men got paper cuts related to some law...the committee would become a federal agency in a week.



4/8
@DoomScroling




5/8
@stubronstein02




6/8
@DoomScroling




7/8
@divinenewpill
This is why we should /search?q=#LegalizeDV

8/8
@EaronnScot
It's up to its people now.
You can let your women be slaughtered....or not.

But remember that even Nazi Germany had the White Rose.
What's Georgia's excuse?




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Georgia Fires Maternal Mortality Review Committee After They Link Anti-Abortion Law With Deaths of Women

Georgia has fired all members of the Maternal Mortality Review Committee after the committee concluded that several women's deaths had been preventable and that information was made public by ProPublica. Make no mistake, this is about the state of Georgia wanting to conceal the…...

newsvideoclip.com

Georgia officials fired the entire maternal mortality review committee after they concluded that two women — Amber Thurman and Candi Miller — died because of Georgia’s anti-abortion laws, notes ProPublica:

They were the first reported cases of women who died without access to care restricted by a state abortion ban, and they unleashed a torrent of outrage over the fatal consequences of such laws. The women’s stories became a central discussion in the presidential campaign and ballot initiatives involving abortion access in 10 states….

“Confidential information provided to the Maternal Mortality Review Committee was inappropriately shared with outside individuals,” Dr. Kathleen Toomey, commissioner of the state Department of Public Health, wrote in a letter dated Nov. 8 and addressed to members of the committee. “Even though this disclosure was investigated, the investigation was unable to uncover which individual(s) disclosed confidential information.

“Therefore, effective immediately the current MMRC is disbanded, and all member seats will be filled through a new application process.”

Thurman’s family also told ProPublica they had wanted the information about her death disclosed…

 

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1/1
@RepNikema
My statement on Governor Kemp’s dismissal of Georgia’s Maternal Mortality Review Committee .

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1/2
@propublica
In a letter, Georgia’s public health commissioner said the board was disbanded because “confidential information provided to the Maternal Mortality Review Committee was inappropriately shared with outside individuals.”
Georgia Dismissed All Members of Maternal Mortality Committee After ProPublica Obtained Internal Details of Two Deaths



2/2
@MichaelVSmith3
Florida just fired the whole committee.




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1/1
@alexthenewsbee
Georgia,which has one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the US,just axed its panel investigating maternal deaths.The committee of over 30 experts, incl. 10 medical doctors was disbanded after a leak about deaths related to strict abortion rules Georgia axes maternal health panel after abortion deaths leak




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[Orbital-Fetus]

This country is fukked up.

 

[Luke Cage]

These white women need to do something about this.

but they won't

 

[Vandelay]

They're gonna do this for every department not named ICE, DHS, or the DOJ. They're actually going to inflate shyt.

 

[At30wecashout]

Same way they did Covid. Lots if excess deaths annually but certain states hid the data. Right Wingers are the death cult they boogeyman’d the ACA about all those years ago.

 

[ThatTruth777]

That's conservatism

 

[Wild self]

Don't start a family in a red state for the foreseeable future. That's all I can say.

 

[Scustin Bieburr]

The south gon hold it* down.

*national life expectancy, infant and maternal survival rates, national IQ, average wages

 

[boogers]

Don't start a family in a red state for the foreseeable future. That's all I can say.

in the bottom cabinet next to my 9mm is a small manilla envelope containing 13 blister-packed pills. 1 ru-486 and 12 mifeprestones, iirc

i aint about to be no daddy

theyre gonna come for daily birth control and plan b too.. fukk that. im in a loving monogamous relationship i should be able to have my fun

people need to stop dikk policing

 

[Wild self]

in the bottom cabinet next to my 9mm is a small manilla envelope containing 13 blister-packed pills. 1 ru-486 and 12 mifeprestones, iirc

i aint about to be no daddy

theyre gonna come for daily birth control and plan b too.. fukk that. im in a loving monogamous relationship i should be able to have my fun

people need to stop dikk policing

You means, the GOP need to stop interfering with your bedroom activities with women

 

[Kenny West]

The south gon hold it* down.

*national life expectancy, infant and maternal survival rates, national IQ, average wages

Sig worthy, prolific posting

 

[Wargames]

I’m telling ya’ll there is going to be a migration out of those red states. The republicans gonna run there shyt into the ground and then want force everybody else to pay for it.