How Georgia’s abortion law thrust Shanette Williams into a fight at the ballot box
Shanette Williams found out how her daughter died along with the rest of the world: when ProPublica published an article revealing staff at a metro Atlanta hospital delayed performing a routine procedure after Georgia passed its strict anti-abortion law.
Williams had declined to be interviewed for the piece, which published in September 2024. She had spent the previous two years in silence, refusing to speak about her daughter, Amber Nicole Thurman, or her 6-year-old grandson who would now grow up without a mother.
But three days after the story published, Williams and two of her daughters were onstage with talk show host Oprah Winfrey and former Vice President Kamala Harris, who was then in the throes of her 107-day surprise campaign for president.
It was there Williams had to confront reality in front of more than 300,000 people who had tuned in to watch. She describes the moment as ripping a “wound that never healed wider.”
In the bustle after the show, Williams said Winfrey pulled her aside and implored her to continue to speak out, saying: “This is bigger than you, you have to keep going.”
Williams took her advice. Two years later, she is a top surrogate for Democrats in Georgia as they try to win the Governor’s Mansion for the first time in more than two decades.
It’s a role she never dreamed of filling. Williams had no interest in politics until her daughter’s death. She didn’t even know her daughter was pregnant when she arrived at the hospital that day in 2022, let alone that she had crossed state lines in a desperate attempt to get an abortion.
At her bedside, Williams assured her she would be OK and that she was in the best hands. But Thurman ultimately died after waiting too long for an operation that could have been life-saving but was unsuccessful.
“I’m still trying to wrap my head around the fact that, how is it that politics determines healthcare?” she said in a lengthy interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “And how is it that anybody can be OK with the decision of a politician who has no clue about a woman’s body?”
Williams has been a fixture in this year’s contentious midterm election, supporting Democratic candidate for governor Jason Esteves and U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff.
She’s also campaigned for two left-leaning candidates for the Georgia Supreme Court who are trying to oust two justices who voted to uphold Georgia’s anti-abortion law.
She’s pushed others to speak out, too. Turiya Tomlin-Randall retreated from the media and others after ProPublica revealed her sister, Candi Miller, had died, afraid to seek care after attempting an at-home abortion.
It wasn’t until 2025 when she connected with Williams that Tomlin-Randall spoke publicly for the first time at a Planned Parenthood gala.
“It was therapeutic for one, but it was also empowering,” she said. “It’s been no turning back since.”
Tomlin-Randall said that the world of political advocacy opened her eyes to the number of reasons why someone would choose to have an abortion. For her sister, it was a matter of life or death.
“My sister loved children — she had three already — and if she was in good health, she would have thought twice,” she said. “Her own health was at risk, and so that’s why she chose to do what she did.”
“It’s so much bigger than just an abortion,” Tomlin-Randall added. “It’s an attack on women’s health.”
Amber and Candi’s families now both help care for the children their deaths left behind.
“I can never get my sister back,” Tomlin-Randall said. “And my nieces and nephew are never going to see their mother again.”
‘It’s the fight’
Georgia’s abortion law, known as the “heartbeat bill,” bans nearly all abortions once fetal cardiac activity is detected. Experts say that happens at about six weeks of pregnancy, before many people know they are pregnant.
Lawmakers passed it in 2019, and it took effect in 2022 after the U.S. Supreme Court ended nearly 50 years of federal abortion protections by overturning Roe v. Wade.
The issue dominated elections that year, including the rematch for governor between Democrat Stacey Abrams and Republican Gov. Brian Kemp and Democratic U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock’s reelection campaign against former football star Herschel Walker.
Democrats made abortion a key platform again during the 2024 presidential race. But the issue has faded this election cycle amid broader debates about affordability as the cost of living remains high and Georgians struggle to pay their bills. Republican candidates for U.S. Senate and governor have largely stayed away from touting the state’s abortion crackdown.
Williams is trying to change that. Last week, she stood alongside reproductive rights advocates and concerned medical providers, urging voters to back two attorneys, Jen Jordan and Miracle Rankin, who are challenging Georgia Supreme Court Justices Charlie Bethel and Sarah Warren. Both Bethel and Warren were appointed by Republican governors and voted to uphold Georgia’s abortion law.
“We need real, true, authentic, genuine, trustworthy people in these seats,” Williams said. “And those of you that are sitting on the sidelines saying, ‘I’m just not going to vote’ — shame on you. Because I don’t want you to feel what I feel today.”
Williams’ biggest impact could come in the crowded Democratic race for governor. She’s backing former state Sen. Esteves, who is jockeying for second in the polls but is hoping a surge of momentum can sweep him into a likely runoff with former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms.
“Shanette Williams is a prime example of a mother who experienced a devastating tragedy at the hands of a policy failure that did not need to happen,” Esteves said. “She has turned that experience into advocacy and working to turn Georgia into a better state.”
Williams’ endorsement could help Esteves gain ground on former Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan, who is now running for governor as a Democrat. Duncan is a former Republican who stood beside Kemp when he signed Georgia’s abortion law in 2019. Now he’s trying to convince voters his change of heart is genuine.
“I was wrong to think a room full of state senators knew better than millions of women,” he said onstage at the Atlanta Press Club debate.
Williams has a harsh rebuttal: “You cannot vindicate yourself with a ‘sorry.’”
“You want to say, ‘I know what I did was wrong,’” she said. “That’s not going to bring our babies back.”
Williams, who is also a devout Christian, says she now sees beyond the hurt she’s suffered after the death of her daughter. She thinks of herself as a “sacrificial lamb” in the fight to protect women’s rights.
“It’s the fight. You roll up your sleeves — you cry still, but you wipe the tears — you pray, and you ask God to lead you through those doors, and you keep going,” she said. “When I go to the cemetery, I want to be able to eventually tell my daughter that because I didn’t stop, we got these laws changed — and that’s what matters.”
About the Author
Riley Bunch is an enterprise reporter covering the impacts of politics and policy on everday Georgians.
