All charges have been dismissed against a 33-year-old South Carolina woman who was arrested last year for using the abortion pill when she was 25 weeks pregnant, reports the Post & Courier.
The 13th Circuit Solicitor’s Office said it decided not to prosecute the woman due to “insufficient evidence or another legal issue.”
The woman was arrested in September 2022 for self-administering an abortion. According to reports, in October 2021 she was taken to the hospital with labor pains. She then gave birth to a stillborn baby in a hospital bathroom and told medical personnel she had taken the abortion pill to end her pregnancy. Following protocol, hospital personnel reported the incident to authorities. The woman was arrested nearly a year later following an investigation.
When the two-step abortion pill regimen is used, mifepristone starves the child of the nutrients it needs to survive, while misoprostol causes the mother to deliver the baby. Though there are varying state laws regarding abortion pill distribution, in many states it is required to take the abortion pill under a doctor’s supervision so that there can be accurate gestational dating and monitoring of any risks to the mother’s health.
Because she took the pill at 25 weeks, which is much later than the FDA’s 10-week approval limit, the woman in this incident faced an increase in potential complications to her own health in addition to the death of her preborn child.
At the time of the incident, South Carolina law prohibited abortion after 20 weeks. Self-administering an abortion was also illegal in the state. According to Newsweek, the woman faced a misdemeanor charge with a maximum penalty of up to two years in prison and a $1,000 fine for the crime.
The survival rate of an infant born at 25 weeks is about 50% if the child is given proper care. Live Action News has shared many stories of premature babies who were born at that early stage yet survived outside the womb.
Since the woman’s abortion pill incident, the abortion law in the state has changed. Preborn children are now protected from abortion after a detectable heartbeat, which usually is picked up by monitors around six weeks gestation.
