By Melissa Patrick
Kentucky Health News
Kentucky State Police have charged a Campton woman with first-degree fetal homicide after authorities say she told them she took medication “to complete an abortion” and then buried a “developed male infant” in a “shallow grave” on her property.
Melinda S. Spencer, 35, was also charged with abuse of a corpse and tampering with physical evidence, according to a KSP news release.
Kentucky has only narrow exceptions to its abortion ban. Health care providers can perform an abortion only to prevent death or serious injury to the mother, with no exceptions for rape or incest.
According to the release, a medical clinic in Campton contacted state police on Dec. 31 around 2:30 p.m. and reported that “there was a lady in the clinic (who) disclosed that she had aborted her pregnancy at her residence.”
After police arrived at United Clinic, they said the woman “stated to detectives that she had ordered medication online to complete an abortion” and “took the medication, which resulted in the death of a developed male infant.”
Then, the release says, she “buried the infant on the backside of her property in a shallow grave.” Police “located the infant in a shallow grave” at the residence.
Angela Cooper, a spokesperson with the Kentucky ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union), said this situation is one example of women being punished for making their own personal medical decisions, D’Quan Lee reports for Spectrum News.
“Pregnancy is an incredibly complicated state of being. It is impossible to apply blanket laws, blanket bans, without putting people in danger,” Cooper told Lee.
Addia Wuchner, executive director for the anti-abortion Kentucky Right to Life group, disputed the notion that legalized abortion would have prevented this from happening, Lee reports.
“The tragedy would have been you still would have had a dead child. Seeing this tragic case again reminds us that a child has lost their life and abortion only camouflages it,” Wuchner told Lee. Further, she said more needs to be done to address “these illegal pills coming into Kentucky without any medical care, without any medical advice.”
The case is still under investigation.
