Millions of murderers walk among us

Personhood USA, the group that has been attempting to pass state-level fetal “personhood” measures across the country, is applauding the attempted murder prosecution of a Tennessee woman who tried to give herself an abortion with a coat hanger, lamenting that women who obtain safe and legal abortions don't face the same penalty.

The Tennessee woman, Anna Yocca, was charged with attempted first-degree murder when she attempted to abort at 24-week pregnancy with a coat hanger in her bathtub. She panicked, went to the hospital, and delivered a 1.5 pound baby. A police spokesman told the media that “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.”

Sadly, Yocca’s case is not unique. A woman in Indiana was similarly charged with allegedly attempting to self-induce an abortion earlier this year. In fact, stealth “personhood” measures — meant to lay the groundwork for criminalizing abortion by granting certain rights to fetuses — have been passed around the country. In Alabama, the state supreme court has used “chemical endangerment” laws to lay the legal groundwork for fetal personhood, leading to the prosecutions of nearly 500 women accused of endangering their fetuses.