Welcome to a break point, a daily look at an ever-changing culture through the lens of

unchanging truth for the Colson Center on John Stone Street.

Well, last month the world learned the tragic story of Amber Thurman, 28-year-old Georgia woman who died unexpectedly from acute severe sepsis.

Reports that Thurman's death was preventable were accurate. However, why it was preventable was in most cases misrepresented.

Thurman was nine weeks pregnant with twins and she died from complications

after a chemical abortion.

Thurman's death has been widely and wrongly blamed on a Georgia state law that protects

unborn life after the six week of pregnancy.

Specifically, doctors delayed her care after she showed signs of a medical emergency.

As written, the law specifies that pregnant women facing a medical emergency should receive care.

As defined in the law, a medical emergency refers to, and I quote here, a condition in which an abortion is necessary in order to prevent the death of the pregnant woman or the substantial and irreversible physical impairment of a major

bodily function of a pregnant woman."

And accordingly, Georgia state law not only permits the removal of an unborn child who has died from a spontaneous abortion

miscarriage or stillbirth as has been widely reported.

Contrary to the prevalent presentation of the facts, nothing in Georgia's pro-life law would have prohibited

Thurman whose condition clearly constituted a medical emergency from receiving the care she

needed.

Had the doctors immediately performed a dilation and

C or dNC procedure which was necessary in her case they would have been

acting within the bounds of the law. In fact there are no states that have laws that deny health care to pregnant women.

In a recent congressional hearing, Senator James Langford asked a lawyer, Heather Hacker, to clear up the confusion

about these pro-life state laws. Here's how the conversation

...