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Three years have passed since the tragic death of Amber Nicole Thurman, a Georgia mother. A year has passed since Candi Miller, also a mother, lost her life. Both women lost their lives due to Georgia’s extreme abortion ban.
Amber’s mother, Shannette Williams, and Candi’s sister, Turiya Tomlin-Randall, joined alongside Free&Just, community members, and local leaders for a vigil at Free & Just’s mural in Atlanta to mark the third anniversary of Amber’s passing and demand justice for all those impacted by abortion bans.
In November 2024, ProPublica reported on the preventable deaths of Amber and Candi.
Details included in reports from Georgia’s Maternal Mortality Review Committee, which investigates pregnancy-related deaths in the state, confirm both women’s deaths were preventable and the result of limited access to prompt medical care.
Williams only learned of the details of her daughter’s passing after ProPublica’s investigation surfaced previously withheld information. In response to ProPublica’s reporting, officials in Georgia dismissed all members of the state’s Maternal Mortality Review Committee, which investigates the deaths of pregnant women across the state.
Instead of working to keep Georgia women safe or addressing the state’s alarmingly high maternal mortality rate among Black women, Georgia health authorities are being called out for circling the wagons and attempting to make it more difficult to understand how and why pregnant women across Georgia are suffering poor pregnancy outcomes and even preventable deaths.
Abortion bans are killing women across the country, and instead of working to expand access to care, Trump and extremists in Congress have jammed through dangerous cuts that will strip millions of people from health care, leaving more lives at risk.
Williams also says her grief turned into a fight when she learned the truth about her daughter’s death.
“The discovery of what happened to Amber is what made my grief turn into a fight, not to harm, but an advocacy for rights,” she said.
Williams says she is at a loss for words and has mixed emotions, but it doesn’t stop the fight.
“I am just taken by the fact that I must go to the cemetery to visit my baby. Amber’s death was preventable, and the fact that I hear crickets now, considering the President and Vice President acknowledged her death was preventable. Yet, they are not doing anything to save the other women,” she said.
She adds that the Trump administration is trying to strip women of everything that could save them. Williams also says her daughter Amber was affected as other women are being affected now, and that it’s her earthly purpose, goal, and breath she takes to make sure she fights for justice for Amber and all the other women who have been affected or lost their lives.
“Bringing other women together by my strength empowers me to keep going. I don’t have a ‘give up’ bone in my body because our family has suffered a tremendous loss,” she said. “When my grandson expresses how much he misses his mom and breaks out in tears, and we cannot console him… do you know what it means to be a grandmother to go to all lengths and measures to ensure her grandchildren are happy? I can’t quit.”
She also said this is what happens when the community allows politicians to have a voice and sends a message to Georgia politicians and the Trump administration to “get the h—out of our business.”
“Can anyone tell me, as a man, what I’m going through at this point? The relationship between me and my physician has been tainted because I don’t trust them anymore, and that’s a profession I’ve been in over half my life,” she said.
With experience in the healthcare field, Williams says she, without a doubt, knows women may have the same symptoms, but each woman is different, and their body is not the same.
“We don’t even trust the people that took the oath to say, ‘we’re not going to do any harm, but we’ll do whatever it takes to save lives,’ that statement has been tainted,” she said.
Tomlin-Randall said she doesn’t go a day without thinking about her sister, and, unfortunately, she and Shannette had to meet under these circumstances.
“Meeting Shannette has been one of the greatest blessings I’ve had because she gave me courage to come forward on behalf of Candi. Who would be if I wasn’t her voice?” she said. “Adriana, Candice, Amber, and all of the other women we don’t know about, no one should have to do this.”
She continues saying Candi’s name was not a talking point, and not just a memory, because when everyone stopped saying their names, their loved ones had to wake up every day facing it.
“The biggest loss is for her children who would never get to see their mother again, especially her then-three-year-old, who was in the bed with her when she passed because she was too afraid to go to the hospital because Georgia law said if she took an abortion pill, she would be in prison,” she said. “It’s unthinkable, and the worst part is I didn’t even know for a, almost two years, year and a half the real cause of her death; Clayton County waited almost six months to give me an autopsy, to make it make sense.”
Senator Jon Ossoff also made an appearance to speak a few words and said it’s hard to believe it’s been three years since the death of Amber. He also said he has reflected on parenthood over the last few months as he and his wife introduced their second child, a baby girl, into the world recently.
“You pour everything into your child. There is nothing more precious in your life, there’s no relationship or possession that can rival the irreplaceable value of a child,” he said. “To lose a child in an unnecessary death because of decisions made by selfish, foolish politicians, it’s a burden that both Shannette and Turiya have borne with such tremendous grace, strength, and tenacity.”
He also says to both Shannette and Turiya, the community, himself, people across the country and state are determined to do whatever they can to support them as they continue to bear their losses.
Additionally, Williams says she wants to bombard the Trump administration and the Supreme Court because they are the ones responsible for overturning Roe V. Wade.
“Why aren’t we in their faces? Why is it so hard to get to them? Half of my family is ripped apart because my daughter is gone, and we were once a strong, solid family,” she said. “I’m beyond standing on the podium, I want to see politicians face to face. I want to see change now.”
As for advice, Williams says she wants every mother who is experiencing loss and thinks they do not have a voice, or has just buriedd thinks their child is forgotten, to muster the strength to make the world remember thei their child, anr child.
“You must muster up the strength to make the world remember your child. We went through nine months of connection and how old your child is before death,” she said. “Why would you quit? Why would you not fight? Why would you let your child’s name and memories be forgotten and buried with them? You must fight as a mother, it’s what we do.”
Furthermore, Williams said this fight is not just about her and her family, but she stands on the strength of God to bring change for every woman.
“A ‘no’ to me doesn’t mean a thing. Looking at what’s going on at the White House, I could care less because my God is the President and he made a promise and he will not break his promise,” she said. “Together we stand, and we will get through it, and we’re going to get change.”
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Isaiah Singleton
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