Kentucky woman may have been wrongfully charged with fetal homicide after abortion

Last week, a Kentucky woman was arrested and charged with fetal homicide after taking abortion pills, even though the state’s abortion laws protect pregnant women that induce their own abortions.

The 35-year-old woman was arrested after going to a clinic and telling staff that she had taken abortion medication at home, prompting the clinic to call the police. Reports say she told Kentucky State Police (KSP) she aborted the pregnancy because the child did not belong to her boyfriend and did not want him to find out.

The woman also admitted to placing the fetus in a light bulb box and burying it in her backyard, prompting charges of abuse of a corpse and tampering with evidence. An autopsy is scheduled to determine the age of the fetus.

Fetal homicide question

Angela Cooper, a representative from Kentucky’s American Civil Liberties Union Branch, told WKYT that she is confused and concerned as to why the woman was charged with fetal homicide. State law says only a doctor can legally perform an abortion, and only under very narrow conditions. But statute 507A.020, which defines Kentucky’s fetal homicide exceptions and has been state law since February 2004, protects pregnant women from being criminally charged for abortion procedures.

“Nothing in this chapter shall apply to any acts of a pregnant woman that caused the death of her unborn child,” the statute reads.

“That exception specifically says that nothing in the chapter applies to a person who has taken action that causes the death of their unborn child and seems to be written specifically for a self-managed abortion,” Cooper said.

House Bill 148, Kentucky’s near-total abortion ban passed in 2019, also includes a protection for pregnant women.

“Nothing in this section may be construed to subject the pregnant mother upon whom any abortion is performed or attempted to any criminal conviction and penalty,” the bill says.

Cooper also said while the charges are concerning, they may not reflect how the court will handle the case.

“I’m unsure as to why the arrest was made by KSP, that seems a little bit unusual,” Cooper said. “I would caution people against taking what is in the report as gospel. No individual officer can be expected to know all of the ins and outs of the law, and just because a charge is written in a report does not necessarily mean that that’s what the court’s going to do.”

Karen Thompson, a legal director at the Pregnancy Justice organization, told Jezebel that the woman’s arrest as described is a “travesty.”

“We have a woman arrested and thrown in jail for doing what is perfectly legal for her to do in Kentucky, which is to self-manage her own abortion,” Thompson said. “The law with regard to the fetal homicide law that [she] was charged under could not be any clearer.”

Despite this, numerous local news media publications across Kentucky do not make mention of the laws’ exceptions for pregnant women that induce their own abortion, opting instead for numerous sensationalized details about the case.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Despite other publications naming the woman, Heartland Signal has decided not to report her name given the sensitivity of the subject matter.