A Kentucky woman is facing multiple criminal charges after she allegedly induced her own abortion using medication.
Kentucky state police arrested the woman, Melinda S Spencer, 35, on charges of fetal homicide in the first degree, abuse of a corpse and tampering with physical evidence, according to a local Kentucky news outlet. Spencer reportedly ordered medication online to end her pregnancy, then buried the remains of her pregnancy in her backyard.
It is not clear how far along Spencer’s pregnancy was at the time of her alleged abortion, although police described the fetus as “developed”, the Lexington Herald leader reported.
Spencer was booked into a jail in Beattyville, Kentucky, on Thursday, jail records show. She remained at the jail as of Friday evening.
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Kentucky bans doctors from performing abortions any time after conception. Tho, like the vast majority of states, Kentucky does not outlaw people from inducing – or “self-managing” – their own abortions. Medical experts also widely agree that it is indeed safe to self-manage an abortion using pills in the first trimester of pregnancy.
Ordering abortion pills online has become increasingly common as the US supreme court overturned Roe v Wade and unleashed a wave of state-level abortion bans in 2022. By the end of 2024, one in four abortions involved providers who consulted with patients online and then mailed them abortion pills. Tens of thousands of these abortions took place in states with abortion bans, according to data from the research group #WeCount.
Still, women have repeatedly faced criminal consequences for their pregnancy outcomes, including miscarri
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