Rutherford County Sheriff’s Office"/>A woman from Murfreesboro, Tennessee is charged with "attempted criminal abortion" after using a coat hanger to kill her unborn son. Her sentence was reduced from the original verdict of first-degree murder.
Back in September 2015, Anna Yocca, then 31 years old, was reported to authorities when it was found out that she attempted a self-abortion with a used coat hanger. It was said that she filled her bathtub with water, and repeatedly inserted the hanger on herself until she bled profusely. Her boyfriend then brought her to the hospital.
Doctors from Saint Thomas Midtown Hospital were able to save the baby, now named Leo, who was then at six months. However, Leo suffered lungs, eyes and heart injuries that will most likely have him endure for the rest of his life.
It wasn't known to doctors how the baby got injured so badly until the nurses spoke to Leo's mother, Anna, who confessed to doing a self-abortion. Hospital staff immediately called in police authorities to mediate on their behalf.
Yocca was initially charged with first-degree murder, but was later reduced to "attempted criminal abortion" due to a public outcry from pro-abortion groups.
During the litigation procedures, Yocca's supporters waited outside the courthouse with stickers and banners reading, "Abortion on demand and without apology" and "Drop all charges against Anna Yocca. Fetuses are not babies. Women are not incubators."
According to pro-abortion groups, there are no abortion clinics in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, so Yocca would have to "drive the 45 minutes to Nashville for a legal procedure."
George Melton, Yocca's attorney, also spoke in behalf of pro-abortion groups when he said that "murder" is not applicable when the act is by a "pregnant mother towards her own embryo or fetus."
While the first-degree murder charge was dropped, Yocca was pressed on new charges that include: aggravated assault with a weapon, attempted procurement of a miscarriage, and attempted criminal abortion. These charges were filed two months after the initial litigation.
Yocca is currently at the Rutherford County Adult Detention Center while waiting for the new trial by December of this year.
Some netizens however, are appalled by the pro-abortion sentiments. One says, "Roe versus Wade didn't give you the right to induce birth prematurely at 24 weeks with a healthy, viable fetus for the purpose of ending life. The ruling gave states the right to restrict some so-called abortive actions as beyond human decency."
Roe v. Wade is a 1973 landmark case that has changed the legal landscape of abortion in the United States.
