Vice President Kamala Harris on Friday referenced a contested report to criticize former President Donald Trump, attributing the death of a Georgia woman after a medically induced abortion to Trump’s influence. However, experts have clarified that the woman’s death was due to medical error, not Georgia’s abortion restrictions.

Speaking at an Atlanta rally, Harris discussed the 2022 death of 28-year-old Amber Nicole Thurman, who died from an infection caused by abortion pills that failed to fully expel fetal tissue. Harris claimed Georgia’s restrictive “heartbeat law,” which was implemented following the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade in 2022, was to blame for Thurman’s death.

“You see, under the Trump abortion ban, [Thurman’s] doctors could have faced up to a decade in prison for providing Amber the care she needed,” Harris told the crowd, leading them in chanting Thurman’s name.

ProPublica had reported on Thurman’s case earlier in the week, sparking outrage among those on the political left. The story, headlined “Abortion Bans Have Delayed Emergency Medical Care. In Georgia, Experts Say This Mother’s Death Was Preventable,” served as a focal point for Harris’ rallying call.

However, some critics argue that the law didn’t prevent doctors from treating Thurman. Georgia’s “heartbeat law” prohibits most abortions once a fetal heartbeat is detected but allows exceptions if the mother’s life is at risk or the fetus has a serious medical condition.

“The definition of abortion … clearly states that the act is taken to ‘cause the death of an unborn child,’” said Katie Daniel, state policy director for Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America. “So treating abortion complications after the child or children is deceased, or managing a natural miscarriage, would not be considered an abortion under Georgia law.”

Dr. Christina Francis, CEO of the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists, also weighed in, arguing that Thurman’s death resulted from the use of high-risk abortion medications. “These preventable deaths should be a wake-up call for all Americans about the inherent dangers of abortion and how Biden-Harris policies that allow abortion drugs to be sent through the mail hurt women and their children,” Francis said.

Harris, however, emphasized the moral issue of government involvement in personal medical decisions. “It is immoral to have the government decide what a woman should do with her body if there are complications,” she stated.

A state maternal mortality review committee had previously deemed Thurman’s death preventable, noting that delays in medical care played a significant role. But the larger political debate continues, with Harris making abortion rights a central issue in her 2024 presidential campaign.

“This is a health care crisis, and Donald Trump is the architect of this crisis,” Harris said. “He brags about overturning Roe v. Wade … He says he is proud, proud that women are dying, proud that doctors and nurses could be thrown in prison for administering care, proud that young women today have fewer rights than their mothers and grandmothers. How dare he?”

Trump has frequently emphasized his role in appointing the justices who overturned Roe v. Wade has maintained that he would not impose a national abortion ban, stating it should be decided by individual states.

Harris closed her remarks with a call to action, vowing that if Congress passed a law codifying Roe v. Wade, she would sign it into law. “It is a fight for freedom, and we know in America, freedom is not to be given. It is ours by right,” she said, reiterating her commitment to protecting abortion rights.

Later that evening, she repeated the story of Thurman’s death at a rally in Madison, Wisconsin, using it to further underscore her position on reproductive rights.