Best friend of Georgia mom who died after seeking abortion care opens up about what happened

Ricaria Baker walked into the 11Alive News studio Wednesday, clutching a pamphlet from Amber Thurman's Celebration of Life.

It's been just over two years since her best friend died, but the full knowledge of why is still fresh.

"I am nervous," she said, placing the photo-filled pamphlet on the table. 

This would be her first television interview. She took her seat, stated her name for the camera, and wrung her hands.

11Alive asked, "How did you and Amber meet?"

Baker smiled, her shoulders relaxed. This first question was an easy one.

"We're childhood friends," she explained. "We met in fifth grade. We even found out we were pregnant together."

In fact, Baker's daughter and Thurman's son were born just one week apart, eight years ago.

"She was already loving but once she became a mom, she became ten times more loving," Baker recalled. "You could tell just how she looked at him, like he was her whole world. We were the type of moms that enjoyed being with our kids all the time."

Of course, motherhood wasn't easy. Baker knows her friend was battling that thought in 2022, when Thurman discovered she was pregnant with twins.

"She just recently moved into her apartment and she was applying for nursing school to give her son this life that she wanted," Baker said. "I told her 'whatever you decide to do, I'm here for you no matter what.'"

Thurman decided to seek an abortion. Just days prior, Georgia passed a law banning an abortion after a fetal heartbeat is detected. That's usually around the six week mark, doctors say. Thurman was about seven weeks along.

"She made the appointment in Atlanta but they called her back because that's when the ban happened," Baker said. "They were like, 'we can't do this, but we can send you states that will allow it and can do it for you.'" 

So, the two friends drove to North Carolina, where Thurman had an appointment for a D&C, a surgical procedure sometimes used in abortions during which a tool is used to scape the lining of the uterus. 

Bumper to bumper traffic had them running late, Baker explained. The North Carolina clinic was so packed with patients from across the country, that it was only able to see people in 15 minute increments.

When the friends arrived, the clinic provided Thurman with FDA approved medication to end the pregnancy. It was well within the standard of care for the Thurman's stage of pregnancy, doctors confirmed to 11Alive. 

A few days after their return to Georgia, Thurman reported severe pain and bleeding, according to medical records obtained and reported by nonprofit newsroom ProPublica. She was rushed to a metro Atlanta hospital, where she soon became septic.

ProPublica reported those medical records revealed the Georgia doctors put off doing a D&C procedure, administering antibiotics and an IV drip instead. Thurman's condition worsened.

"She should have had a D&C right then and there," said Dr. Lillian Schapiro, a gynecologist in Atlanta who was not involved in Thurman's care. "[Her medical providers] knew the answer. They knew the answer, but they have had fear put into them by the court system, by these new laws that they don't understand."

ProPublica reported Thurman's doctors didn't conduct the D&C procedure until 19 hours after she'd arrived at the hospital. She died during that surgery.

Baker had just picked up her daughter from school and was on the way to the hospital when she got a call from Thurman's sister.

"She said Amber didn't make it," she recalled through tears. "I'm like, what do you mean? How did we get here? I'm not understanding. I don't even want to understand."

Baker said in the years since, she and Thurman's family believed the abortion medication had somehow caused her death.

"I never knew she sat there in the hospital for as long as she did," said Baker. 

Thurman's mother said the same during a town hall forum last week hosted by Oprah Winfrey and U.S. Vice President and Democratic Presidential nominee Kamala Harris.

"When ProPublica came to my home I pushed them away," Thurman's mother said. "But [the ProPublica reporter] was persistent. She said this is something you need to know, you need to hear me. People need to know this was preventable."

The newsroom also reported they'd obtained an internal document from Georgia's maternal mortality review committee that concluded there is a “good chance” providing a D&C earlier could have prevented Amber Thurman’s death.

"I did not expect it to be something so preventable," Baker said. "That's what really is heartbreaking. This isn't even a political thing, it's a human thing. For somebody to sit there in pain for that long and nothing to happen, it's like heartbreaking all over again."

Baker said neither she nor Thurman were particularly political, adding she's overwhelmed by how her friend's story has taken center stage during a heated presidential election cycle.

"Taking the politics out of it I just hope that this never happens to anybody else," she said. "This could be anybody else's mom or sister or daughter or best friend. I just hope that the people really care about it more than 'we want to do this for a political reason.' I want people to more see it as a human reason." 

Baker said she'll remember her friend as a woman who was fiercely loyal and deeply loving. She laughed imagining what Thurman might think of the national attention her story has received.

"She's definitely like giving me a hard time about, girl, you put my business all out there!" she said with a chuckle. "You're going viral now my girl. Not in the way that we expected, but your name will ring bells for everybody."

Baker also knows her friend would be proud. 

"She loved helping people so if she knows that this could help somebody not to ever have this happen again, she would understand," she said. 

11Alive Investigates has reached out to the hospital system that treated Thurman and the other major hospitals in the metro Atlanta area to ask if they have policies in place to help medical providers interpret Georgia's law, including when they’re legally allowed to intervene. As of the time of this publication, none have responded.