ATLANTA — Avery Davis Bell, a 34-year-old woman living in Atlanta, is speaking out against Georgia's abortion laws following a traumatic experience suffering from a second-trimester miscarriage.
Bell's nightmare was chronicled in an October 30 story by USA Today, followed by an appearance on MSNBC's Morning Joe over the weekend.
According to her, treatment was delayed by those at Emory Decatur due to the state's strict abortion laws.
In the USA Today report, "Bell said doctors grappled with when they could start the process of the procedure. It would take time for her cervix to dilate, but it was unclear to the medical team if beginning the dilation itself would be considered advancing an abortion before the necessary time was up."
Emory Healthcare responded to the USA Today report by stating: "Emory Healthcare uses consensus from clinical experts, medical literature, and legal guidance to support our providers as they make individualized treatment recommendations in compliance with Georgia's abortion laws. Our top priorities continue to be the safety and well-being of the patients we serve."
"So what this means was my doctors had to balance what was best for me at the moment with when it was classified as being legal. This is a place no doctor should have to be in, and this is a situation I don't want any other person ever to have to go through," Bell said on MSBC, noting she was still physically and emotionally recovering from the ordeal.
Bell added that doctors were eventually able to operate once test results were able to show on her chart that she was unequivocally in danger, roughly a day after she sought treatment.
Yet, for her, the thought of potentially having to wait longer is almost unfathomable; telling MSNBC, "My doctors should not have been put in this position, and my worse day should not have been made worse, and who knows if I was in Idaho or Texas or somewhere with even worse laws than Georgia, I very well could have died waiting on this care."
What are Georgia's abortion laws?
Georgia's law, signed by Republican Gov. Brian Kemp in 2019, was one of a wave of restrictive abortion measures that took effect in Republican-controlled states after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022 and ended a national right to abortion. It prohibited most abortions once a “detectable human heartbeat” was present. At around six weeks into a pregnancy, cardiac activity can be detected by ultrasound in an embryo’s cells that will eventually become the heart.
Georgia has a separate criminal law that makes illegal abortions punishable by up to 10 years in prison for providers but not for women having abortions. In addition, the 2019 ban puts physicians at risk of losing their medical licenses if they perform unpermitted abortions.
Similar stories in the national spotlight
Amber Thurman, a 28-year-old mother of a 6-year-old boy, died in 2022. According to the ProPublica report, it was officially deemed preventable by a state committee due to a delay in care for a rare complication that occurred when she took abortion pills.
In a statement, Thurman's family said she had suffered a "rare complication" after taking abortion medication and sought a routine dilation and curettage (D&C) procedure at Piedmont Henry Hospital.
"However, due to Georgia’s stringent legislation criminalizing the procedure in most cases, her doctors delayed treatment for hours, waiting for Amber’s condition to worsen to justify the procedure," the statement read. "Tragically, by the time they acted, it was too late to save her life."
Thurman's family also announced they are filing a lawsuit against the hospital where she attempted to receive care.
The Associated Press contributed sections of this report.
