Tennessee Woman Charged with Attempted Murder for Attempting to Give Herself an Abortion

In an absolutely heinous, tragic and completely preventable story out of Tennessee, a 31-year-old woman has been charged with attempted murder after nearly accidentally killing herself in an attempt to give herself an abortion.

Removing access to abortion services does not stop abortion, it just leads to poor or disenfranchised women trying to take things into their own hands. Between 100,000 and 240,000 women in Texas are estimated to have tried to give themselves abortions by taking black market abortion pills, herbs from the Internet, or even having someone punch or kick them in the stomach.

According to the Associated Press, 31-year-old Anna Yocca of Tennessee was 24 weeks pregnant when she resorted to using a coat hanger in an attempt to terminate the pregnancy in September.

Yocca’s attempt to give herself an abortion with a coat hanger was very dangerous, and when she started bleeding profusely, she worried about her own safety. Her boyfriend rushed her to a hospital, where doctors delivered a living but extremely premature baby that weighed only 1.5 pounds. Doctors told investigators that the baby will need medical support for the rest of his life.

Yocca was arrested Wednesday and charged with attempted 1st-degree murder. She’s being held on a $200,000 bond.

This whole situation is horrible for everyone involved. Yocca’s baby survived, and now doctors say he will require medical care for the rest of his life. Yocca herself could have died in her abortion attempt. She should have had access to a safe abortion from the moment she found out she was pregnant. Making abortions more difficult to come by does not stop abortion from happening, and the alternative can be much worse.

(Photo: Oxford/iStockPhoto/Getty Images)