The dismissal comes two months after the deaths of Amber Nicole Thurman and Candi Miller, two Georgia women who suffered from severe complications after self-managed abortions, were publicized by ProPublica and gained significant notoriety from abortion rights advocates during the 2024 election cycle.

In a letter sent to all members of the Georgia Maternal Mortality Review Committee, state health commissioner Kathleen Toomey said an internal investigation of the review board failed to identify which member was responsible for the leak, resulting in all current members being removed.

Thurman, a 28-year-old mother to a 6-year-old-son, took the abortion pills mifepristone and misoprostol when she was approximately nine weeks pregnant with twins in August 2022, two months after Georgia’s six-week abortion ban took effect following the overturning of Roe v. Wade. 

When Thurman presented at the emergency room with signs of a severe infection due to an incomplete expulsion of the fetuses, doctors waited 20 hours before performing the procedure that would remove the remaining pregnancy tissue, known as a dilation and curettage. Thurman died during the procedure. 

Miller, a 41-year-old mother with three children, obtained abortion pills in November 2022 in part due to chronic conditions that would have made pregnancy life-threatening or difficult. Miller reportedly did not seek medical attention when she developed symptoms of an infection out of fear of the state’s abortion ban, eventually dying at home.

The Georgia MMRC identified both of these cases as preventable deaths. The first two reported preventable abortion-related deaths since the overturning of Roe in June 2022. 

Toomey wrote to the committee members that the mass dismissal resulted from the violation of strict confidentiality agreements signed by each member that “prohibit the disclosure of such information.” 

The letter does not directly reference the Miller or Thurman cases but says confidential health information “was inappropriately shared with outside individual(s).”

Toomey also clarified that, before the hiring process begins to replace the members of the MMRC, there will be an overhaul of onboarding procedures “better ensuring confidentiality, committee oversight, and MMRC organizational structure.” 

The volunteer-based committee consists of 32 standing members from various medical backgrounds, including OB-GYNs, mental health providers, cardiologists, and healthcare policy experts.