"Anna
Yocca was 24-weeks pregnant when police say she filled a bathtub with
water, untwisted the wire of a coat hanger and plunged it into her womb
in an attempt at “self abortion.” When she saw blood in the
water, Yocca panicked. Afraid for her safety, she called her boyfriend
and he took her to the hospital. Later she was transferred to a larger
facility in Nashville, Tenn., where she delivered a 1.5-pound baby boy. The infant faces a life attached to an oxygen tank, the
Murfreesboro Post reported,
because of the early birth and damage to his lungs, eyes and
heart caused by the coat hanger. His mother is facing an indictment for
first-degree attempted murder. Yocca, 31, was arrested last week, three months after her alleged abortion attempt, the
Associated Press reported. She is being held on a $200,000 bond; jail officials told the AP they don’t know whether she has a lawyer. “The
whole time [Yocca] was concerned for her health, her safety, and never
gave any attention to the health and safety to the unborn child,”
Sergeant Kyle Evans, a spokesman for the Murfreesboro, Tenn.,
police, told local
CBS affiliate WTVF. “Those injuries will affect this child for the rest of his life, all caused at the hands of his own mother.”.........A
study from
the Texas Policy Evaluation Project conducted after the state passed
legislation imposing stricter standards on abortion providers, which
resulted
in the closure of
about 20 clinics, found that at least 100,000 Texas women have
attempted a self-induced abortion, usually by taking hormonal pills,
alcohol, illicit drugs, herbs or homeopathic remedies or by getting hit
or punched in the abdomen “We suspect that abortion
self-induction will increase as clinic-based care becomes more difficult
to access,” the authors wrote. In some cases, women who conduct self-induced abortions can be prosecuted for feticide. In April, an Indiana woman
became the first pregnant woman to be charged,
convicted and imprisoned for feticide. The woman, 33-year-old Purvi
Patel, said that her baby had died during a miscarriage. Prosecutors
said Patel had attempted an illegal self-induced abortion and
then left her baby to die. Fetal homicide is a crime in 38 states, including Tennessee. In 2012, the state passed
legislation expanding
the definition of “another person” to include fetuses at all stages of
development, making it one of 23 states with such a broad definition.
People could now be prosecuted for harm done to a fetus or embryo. The
law exempts only pregnant women who undergo a “lawful medical or
surgical procedure” performed by a licensed medical professional — in
other words, a legal abortion. But Yocca’s coat hanger abortion was far from that. Abortions
with coat hangers are among the most grisly ways a woman can attempt to
end her own pregnancy. They’re usually considered a relic of the time
before
Roe v. Wade and are held up by abortion rights advocates as a symbol of what life without abortion access looked like. But they are not entirely a thing of the past: .........Yocca’s indictment came after a months-long grand jury investigation into her September abortion. She is due in court Dec. 21."
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/12/14/tenn-woman-charged-with-attempted-murder-for-failed-coat-hanger-abortion/
PUBLISHER'S NOTE:
Dear Reader. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog. We are following this case.
I
have added a search box for content in this blog which now encompasses
several thousand posts. The search box is located near the bottom of
the screen just above the list of links. I am confident that this
powerful search tool provided by "Blogger" will help our readers and
myself get more out of the site.
The
Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible
years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr.
Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of
Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic"
section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It
can be found at:
http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmith
Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at:
http://smithforensic.blogspot.ca/2013/12/the-charles-smith-award-presented-to_28.html
I look forward to hearing from readers at:
hlevy15@gmail.com;
Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog;
