18-year-old Syeisha Johnson was charged with assault inflicting serious bodily injury on an unborn child, assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill, and negligent child abuse inflicting serious bodily injury after allegedly taking the abortion pills mifepristone and misoprostol to end a pregnancy at 31 weeks in July. Her boyfriend was also arrested and charged with negligent child abuse.
Johnson found out she was pregnant at 20 weeks in June, and then ordered the abortion pills online to be shipped from Virginia. According to the police report: “On July 29, 2026 Ms. Johnson began having abdominal pain and sat down during the day to help with the pain. She sat on the toilet and gave birth to a child.”
Johnson turned 18 in June, meaning she was past the North Carolina requirement for minors to get parental permission for an abortion, however the state bans most abortions after 12 weeks.
Her story comes the same week a recording was released of a call between acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and faith leaders, where Blanche promised that the Trump administration would work to ban mail-order abortion pills nationwide.
Just to steelman your argument here: It is your opinion, that a baby can and should be aborted as long as it is in a womb, regardless of it's develomental status?
I will not engage with the things you feel the need to assume about me, neither here nor in your other comment.
You cannot abort a baby.
Terminology is very important here.
Abortion should be accessible. Healthcare should not be limited. Women should have autonomy over their bodies.
I agree.
That dosn't answer my question tough.
Most women would not choose to abort at 31 weeks if healthcare was accessible.
You’re asking the wrong question.
Again, i agree. But the article isn't about most woman, is it? It's about one teen that aborted at 31 weeks.
So, again: Is it you position that a womens right to make decisions about her body is indipendend from the developmental stage a baby is in?
This teenager would have chosen to abort earlier if she could.
Yes. There’s very, very few abortions that happen in the third trimester and those are heartbreaking situations usually involving a very much wanted baby. Laws shouldn’t tie doctors hands in those situations either.
You can’t separate out the inability to access appropriate healthcare from this case. They are entwined.
Yeah, i see an abortion for medical reasons or to save the live of the mother. And i agree that doctors should be able to act in such situations without fear of repercussions.
Yeah, she should, and it's wrong that she wasn't. So you are saying that, because the system didn't allow her any other path to abortion, you feel such a late abortion was the right call?
Cause i would argue that, even if the circumstances were out of her hands and it's unfair for her, at 31 weeks she was dealing with a fellow human being and should have gone trough with it. I don't blame her that she didn't and she shouldn't be punished for it (it's not her fault anyway).
Let us assume the fetus is a person. It's not, but let's do so.
Does a person have a right to live inside of you and rip its way out of your body? Do they have a right to put you in the hospital and risk your life? Do they have a right to disfigure your body? And to do all of this without having permission?
If the fetus is a person, then abortion becomes self defense.
I would rather kill myself than be forced to give birth again.
I know I'm not alone in that feeling.
I am sorry you had to trough that. Thanks for bringing it up. I understand how going trough a trauma like that causes you to not want a single human to go trough with it too. It makes your stance understanable and very human to me.
And while i still believe that there are circumstances where this might be the batter choice, i don't want to hurt you by insisting on them or arguing this any further. I will refrain from further comments. Your well being is more important than some random internet dude making a point.
I apologise if i have caused you distres by stating my opinion.
This article has no women in it. There's a little girl. Children can't consent.
If a human being grafted themselves to me without informed consent, needing my body to continue living, yeah its fine for me to kill them. I think they even made a pretty good movie about that.
Not surprising you think a literal child can consent.
You do relize that the baby had no say in this, yes? It has been placed in this situation with no say.
The baby never consented to be placed in the womb.
The 17 year old little girl, you pedophile. Have you ever seen a 17 year old? Talked to one? They're so intensely children even when they're educated.
Being too old for you to fuck doesn't make someone an adult.
Why do you even pretend to be pro-choice?
Because i am.
Is it so hard do fathom for you that a stance can be more nuanced than 100 % yes or no, regardless of circumstances?
You’re up and down this comment section tut-tutting about how wrong this teenager is and ignoring the circumstances that forced her there because you’re from Europe.