Abortion Drug Stories: 5 Women Who Suffered Deadly Complications

By: Kelsey Pritchard, originally published September 16, 2025, Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America

Abortion Drugs’ Rising Toll of Harm:

In the ongoing political debate over abortion, one critical truth often gets overshadowed: the real and deadly risks posed by abortion drugs. These drugs, promoted as a “safe” option, have left a trail of devastation – not only ending the lives of unborn children but harming and even killing women, across the country. Tragically, misinformation from abortion activists exacerbates these dangers, convincing women that “self-managed” abortions are harmless and deterring them from seeking timely medical help. This misinformation along with a Biden FDA rule allowing for the mail-order of these drugs has played a role in preventable deaths.

Alarming new reports provide fresh evidence that far more women are presenting to the ER with abortion drug complications than the drug label suggests, demonstrating the real-world dangers of abortion drugs which the Biden administration recklessly ignored. Far from empowering women, these drugs expose them to severe complications such as incomplete abortions, heavy bleeding, infections and sepsis—risks that the FDA itself warns about with a black box label.

A recent peer-reviewed study from Charlotte Lozier Institute (CLI) uncovered widespread  miscoding of emergency room visits  following drug-induced abortions, raising serious concerns about patient safety. And major international studies show that abortion drugs carry  four times the risk of complications as surgical abortion. All these new studies are pointing in the same direction – women and girls are harmed, and these drugs aren’t safe.

The stories in this article reveal diverse profiles of women affected: from young mothers to older women, teenagers to those in their 20s and 40s. Each case underscores the inherent dangers of abortion drugs, especially when taken without supervision or follow-up care.

Amber Thurman: A Young Mother Caught in Misinformation and Delay

Amber Thurman  was a 28-year-old Georgia woman, nine weeks pregnant with twins, when she sought an abortion in 2022. She traveled to a facility in North Carolina where she was given abortion drugs to leave with. What she was told would be a routine process turned deadly for her when the drugs failed to fully expel each baby.

Back home in Georgia, she began experiencing severe symptoms, including abdominal pain and signs of infection. She went to a hospital where doctors diagnosed sepsis but delayed removing the aborted remains of her twins for over 20 hours. By the time they finally acted, it was too late—Amber suffered organ failure and died from septic shock. Pro-abortion media and politicians, including then-Vice President Kamala Harris, quickly blamed Georgia’s pro-life law, claiming it criminalized necessary care. But this is misinformation: the law explicitly allows removal of dead fetal tissue and interventions to save a mother’s life. The real culprits were the abortion drugs’ foreseeable complications and hospital negligence.

Amber’s story highlights the profile of a young, expectant mother navigating a complex system, only to fall victim to drugs that promise to be as “ safe as Tylenol ” but deliver danger.

Candi Miller: A Middle-Aged Woman with Health Issues, Isolated by Fear

At 41,  Candi Miller  represented a different profile: an older woman managing chronic conditions like lupus, which can complicate pregnancies. In 2022, facing an unplanned pregnancy, she turned to the internet, ordering abortion drugs from Aid Access, an international, online distributor, for just $80—no doctor’s visit, no ultrasound, no in-person screening, nowhere to go when she needed follow up care.

Like Amber, Candi suffered an incomplete abortion, her body unable to completely push out the unborn baby and pregnancy tissue, which sparked a severe infection. She experienced excruciating pain but self-medicated with drugs instead of seeking help in the emergency room. Her family later said she feared prosecution under Georgia’s law, a baseless fear fueled by pro-abortion misinformation claiming women could be jailed for self-managed abortions under the law. In reality,  no pro-life state law targets women in this way  and emergency care is always permitted. Tragically, Candi died at home from complications; the medical examiner couldn’t pinpoint the exact cause but linked it to the abortion drugs.

Candi’s case illustrates the vulnerability of women with pre-existing health issues, compounded by the isolation of mail-order drugs and fearmongering that prevents life-saving intervention, enabled by Biden’s edict to turn every home into a dangerous abortion center.

Alyona Dixon: A Young Mother’s Life Cut Short in a Pro-Abortion State

Alyona Dixon, 24, from Nevada, had recently given birth in December 2021 when she discovered another pregnancy in August 2022, estimated at eight weeks’ gestation. She visited a Planned Parenthood where they prescribed abortion drugs.

Four days later, Alyona went to the hospital with sharp abdominal pain. Despite tests, no pelvic exam or gynecology consult occurred, and she was discharged with follow-up instructions. Her condition worsened rapidly: the next day at another hospital, she exhibited sepsis, dehydration, renal failure and more. Ultimately, she suffered cardiac arrest and died in September 2022, from septic abortion complications. Her family sued the hospital for negligence, alleging failure to recognize sepsis.

Alyona’s profile—a young postpartum mother—shows how abortion drugs can exploit women’s vulnerabilities in the fragile period after childbirth, leading to overlooked emergencies, particularly when miscoding hides the true scale of risks.

Holly Patterson: A Teenager’s Silent Suffering

Holly Pat t erson  was just 18, a high school student from California, when she sought an abortion. She obtained the abortion drugs at a Planned Parenthood, finishing the follow-up regimen at home.

Severe cramps and bleeding sent her to the hospital, where she received painkillers and was sent home. Days later, she returned in critical condition and died from septic shock caused by her body’s inability to push out all of the remains of the baby which caused infection. Her father, unaware of her pregnancy, lamented the lack of support and information provided.

Holly’s story profiles a frightened teenager, highlighting how abortion drugs can lead to hidden suffering and fatal delays in care among young women, especially minors who might access them without oversight or even parental knowledge.

Shanyce: A Survivor’s Harrowing Ordeal

Shanyce, a young woman whose story emerged earlier this year via Live Action News, nearly joined these tragic statistics. After taking abortion drugs from Planned Parenthood, she endured stabbing pains and returned to the clinic, only to be dismissed as “fine.” At home, her skin turned blue, prompting her father to rush her to the ER. Doctors found retained remains of her child, requiring three surgeries. She then went into septic shock, was placed in an induced coma and underwent a partial hysterectomy to save her life.

Shanyce survived but lost her fertility.

Is There an End in Sight?

All these profiles – from teens like Holly to mothers like Alyona and older women like Candi – reveal a pattern: abortion drugs promise safety and convenience but deliver pain, infection and death. Right now, the abortion industry floods abortion drugs into every state, whether it is legal or not, encouraging women to self-manage their abortion. A mounting body of scientific evidence and real-life horror stories reveal that these drugs are far more dangerous than advertised, exposing the serious risks they pose to women and girls. Misinformation worsens the toll, scaring women away from help while downplaying risks that affect at least  1 in 25 users with ER visits, according to the FDA.

Together, we can honor these women’s legacies by advocating for a world that shields every mother and child from the dangers of abortion drugs.

Kelsey Pritchard is the State Public Affairs Director for SBA Pro-Life America.

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