The history I'm about to share is somewhat personal for me, as in the mid 90's this is one of the events I was focused on, back when very few other people were paying much attention.
I'm going to focus on two events, but there are many other aspects I could write on. (As well other other similar incidents The medical literature turns up at least 4 other counts of womyn shooting themselves in attempts to end their pregnancies post 1976, as Federal Medicaid funding was being strangled off by the Hyde Ammendment.)
This is the reality of reproductive freedom and abortion access in this country, far beyond SD, or MS. Womyn are shooting themselves in desperate attempts to end their pregnancies.
On March 27th, 1994 near Tampa, Florida, Kawana Ashley came to the end of her rope. She was pregnant and desperate. She shot herself in the abdomen attempting to end her pregnancy.
Her boyfriend had promised to help her put together the cash for an abortion, but weeks passed and she realized she was on her own. She went to a clinic, trying to get an abortion, only to find she was in her second trimester (cha ching- you just heard the sound of the cost of an abortion skyrocketing out of any hope she had of getting enough money together in time.) She was unable to use Medicaid funds for an abortion.
Kawana already had one child- a toddler at the time, who she was raising as a single mom. They lived with her grandmother, who had made it clear that she would not support another child in her home. Having another child meant risking being thrown out.
She left the clinic, and went home. There she was, 6 months pregnant and desperate not to be. What she went through next is perhaps unthinkable, many people may find it unimaginable that a womyn could do this to herself, but then, perhaps they don't understand being held captive by their own biology against their will, being terrified, and seeing no other future. She went home and picked up a .22 caliber pistol, put a pillow over her tummy and shot herself across the abdomen.
She survived the self inflicted gunshot wound and was rushed to a hospital. The bullet had pierced the in utero fetus' wrist. At the hospital, she underwent an emergency c-section. The (now born) child, a girl, was severely premature (as Kawana had been only roughly 6 months pregnant), weighing a mere 2 lb 2 oz. Two weeks later, the child died- not due to the gunshot wound, but due to organ failure, labeled a "complication of prematurity".
As if she had not been through enough already, the state of FL then made her situation worse- much worse. First the Pinellas-Pasco Medical Examiner's office ruled the child's death a homicide.
Kawana was faced with a third-degree felony murder and manslaughter charge. (Each charge carried potential 15 year sentences)
The case slowly dragged through multiple courts over the course of the next 3 years, some charges were dropped, others continued to be contested. Finally, in 1997, it reached the FL Supreme Court which ruled she could not be criminally charged with these crimes for 'self aborting'. The court went further, holding that under Florida law, she could 'self abort' at any time during her pregnancy, even after the fetus became viable.
A Google search on Kawana will bring out plenty of compulsory pregnancy advocate pages as well, but let's be clear- I have traveled to FL and looked through the letters that were sent to the courts at the time. The wingnuts, who bothered writing, wanted her in prison for 'murder', period. They were the fiercest advocates demanding she be prosecuted. There was not a single letter in the file from anyone claiming to be 'pro-life' supportive of Ms. Ashley. She was nothing to them other than a 'useful murderess' they could use to make their 'fetal personhood/abortion = murder' court precedent. She was a symbol to them; they cared nothing for her as a person, other than to see her permanently rotting away in jail.
Were there people who cared and tried to help Kawana? Yes, a few. Notably the 'fight back network' (BACORR- the Bay Area Coalition for our Reproductive Rights, and Refuse and Resist). And a little later myself and others with what was at the time BARF- Bisexual and Radical Feminist. The Center for Reproductive Law and Policy eventually took her case. All of this, back at the dawn of 'net', none of this was 'just send out an e-mail alert'.
Now step back for a moment, and try to imagine being desperate enough to end a pregnancy that you would be willing to shoot yourself in the abdomen. Unfortunately, Kawana's case is far from unique.
This week, Tammy Skinner of Virginia, who was 7-9 months pregnant shot herself. As her fetus was pronounced "dead", she is now being charged with "illegally inducing an abortion", (a class 4 felony punishable by a 2-10 year jail term and a $100,000 fine), using a firearm in commission of a felony, and a misdemeanor count of filing a false police report, (as she had initially called it in saying she didn't remember who shot her.)
She spent at least the night of Feb 28th in jail facing down a $15,000 bond.
These are both young African American womyn who reached some point where shooting themselves entered some realm of 'reasonable'. Here in America, we don't treat such events as symptoms of desperation, as being about being young black and pregnant. We don't even treat this as relating to mental health, or the simple realities womyn face since things like Medicaid funding has been choked off federally and in many states (Medicaid funding certainly could have made a difference in Kawana's case, I don't have enough details to know about what if anything would have made a difference for Tammy.)
Nope, here we treat it as a personal (not societal) problem, and as a criminal problem that can be used as an opportunity to capitalize on womyn's misery to advance wingnut political power. These womyn's miseries are exactly the sick opportunities wingnuts prey on.
I'll leave you with a quote from Priscilla Smith, the staff attorney at the Center for Reproductive Law and policy from just after the Kawana Ashley FL Supreme Court case-
If this case had not been dismissed, women in Florida would have been subject to criminal prosecution for any behavior, legal or illegal, that is harmful to the fetus, including smoking, drinking, or poor nutrition... prosecutors cannot be allowed to police pregnant women's behavior.
That's the reality of reproductive freedom in America at the moment. That's our current fucked state of the union.