(The Lion) — A 39-year-old Louisiana man is facing charges after allegedly slipping his 17-year-old daughter chemical abortion pills at 23 weeks of pregnancy, according to police.
“This horrific abortion drug poisoning caused a mother and child to be rushed to the hospital for an emergency C-section at 23 weeks, with the baby weighing just a pound and fighting for life,” Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America President Marjorie Dannenfelser said in a statement.
Jamelle Kelly, of Carencro, Louisiana, faces charges of first-degree feticide and domestic abuse/ battery of a pregnant victim, according to LifeNews. No bond has been set.
Carencro Police Chief David Anderson said the investigation began in late May when detectives learned the victim, who remains unnamed, had been given abortion pills without her consent, according to the Washington Examiner. The girl was admitted to the hospital and underwent an emergency C-section.
The mother was 23 weeks pregnant – 13 weeks beyond the Food and Drug Administration’s cutoff for taking mifepristone, the chemical abortion pill. The infant survived the operation and is expected to remain hospitalized for an extended period, according to the Examiner.
“We thank God both mother and baby survived this deplorable attack and pray for their healing. At this moment, that little baby continues to fight in the hospital,” Dannenfelser said. “Though we do not know the child’s condition, babies born at 23 weeks and even earlier increasingly survive and thrive if given that fighting chance.”
Chemical abortions account for 63% of the more than 1.1 million abortions performed annually in the United States, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a pro-abortion organization that was formerly part of Planned Parenthood.
“Tragically, 15,000 babies in states with pro-life laws are killed every month as mail-order abortion drugs effectively nullify those laws,” Dannenfelser said. “These dangerous drugs take a severe toll on women’s physical and mental health and give abusive men an easy tool to poison them against their will, even without their knowledge.”
More than eight in 10 online abortion providers ship mifepristone to women beyond the Food and Drug Administration’s 10-week gestation limit, according to research from the Charlotte Lozier Institute. Additionally, 75% of emergency room visits by women who had taken mifepristone within the previous 30 days were classified as severe or critical, the institute found.
This is the third known case in Louisiana involving the misuse of mifepristone against a pregnant woman, according to Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America.
In May, the U.S. Supreme Court dismissed the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals’ temporary halt on the mail-order distribution of mifepristone in a case involving another young woman from Louisiana.
Dannenfelser called on Acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche to end the unregulated distribution of mifepristone, citing that case.
“There is a strong argument that leaving the mail-order policy in place violates federal law, namely the Administrative Procedure Act,” she said. “It is also politically perilous: 7 in 10 Americans want these deadly drugs out of the mail, and nearly a third of GOP base voters are at risk of sitting out midterms if the GOP abandons pro-life policies. Only immediate action can prevent future crimes before they happen.”
In March, Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Missouri, introduced a bill to prohibit the use of mifepristone for chemical abortions and allow women harmed by the drug to seek compensation.
“Congress needs to ban it, and only Congress can ban it,” Hawley told The Lion after the Supreme Court lifted the temporary ban. “Congress needs to do that ASAP.”
