South Carolina woman charged for leaving 27-week baby to die after chemical abortion

UPDATE 12/21/25: Jocelyn Byrum was in Rock Hill Municipal Court on Wednesday as her attorney asked for a hearing over whether or not police had probable cause when they arrested her in November after she took the abortion pill and left her baby in the toilet. The baby remains in critical condition at a hospital. Judge Ray Long found that there was probable cause for her arrest.

According to The Herald, prosecutor Daniel Porter told the court that Byrum knew she was pregnant for months and "catfished" the child's father for money for an abortion that she did not undergo. However, in November, she took the abortion pill, but her baby survived.

Emergency responders came after Byrum's father called 911, and they found the baby "laying in a toilet and a mom not doing anything about it."

Porter told Judge Long the baby is "a human being. A human being this woman tried to kill." “I’m gonna stand up for her if nobody else will,” Porter said of the baby girl. “Detective [Tayler] Englert is standing up for her. I’m standing up for her.”

11/25/25: A woman in South Carolina has been charged with attempted murder and child endangerment for allegedly leaving her baby to die after a chemical abortion using misoprostol failed to end the infant's life in the early third trimester.

Key Takeaways:

• Twenty-year-old Jocelyn Byrum gave birth to a baby at 27 weeks after taking misoprostol.

• Byrum's baby was born alive, and police discovered she did not call for help or offer any assistance to the premature infant.

• The federal Born Alive Infants Protection Act protects babies born alive after an attempted abortion, ensuring they are legally viewed as persons.

• Because Byrum failed to offer assistance to her baby or call for help, she was arrested for attempted murder and unlawful neglect of a child. The baby is in critical condition.

The Details:

According to WYFF4, on November 12, the Rock Hill Police Department and emergency services were called to the home of 20-year-old Jocelyn Byrum, who was said to be experiencing a miscarriage. She admitted to police that she had taken pills to induce labor with the intention of ending the pregnancy.

In an email to Live Action News, Michael Chavis, Police Lieutenant, Police Department
City of Rock Hill, said, “The medicine was Misoprostol. We are not disclosing how it was obtained.”

Misoprostol is the second drug in the two-drug abortion pill regimen, the first being mifepristone. It causes contractions to force the baby from the uterus. Byrum was 27 weeks pregnant (the very end of the second trimester/beginning of third) when she took the misoprostol. A baby born prematurely at this age has a greater than 95% chance of survival.

WCNC reported Byrum did not want to have the baby and that "[i]nvestigators determined that Byrum was aware of how far along she was in her pregnancy and deliberately took the medication because she did not want to have the child."

WYFF noted, "Police said Byrum then failed to render any aid or call EMS for assistance with the newborn child following the birth."

Woman charged with attempted murder for allegedly trying to terminate pregnancy at 27 weeks

It is unclear who eventually called police. Emergency services personnel gave the infant lifesaving aid, and brought the baby to the hospital for further treatment.

Byrum was arrested on Monday for the attempted murder and unlawful neglect of a child. Her baby remains in critical condition.

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The Backstory:

South Carolina protects preborn children from abortion after the baby's heartbeat can be detected, which is typically about six weeks gestation. There are exceptions to the law, including in cases of medical emergency and cases of rape or incest. While pro-abortion groups claim the preborn baby's heart is not functioning at this stage, it is actively pumping blood to support the young life at three weeks post-fertilization (five weeks gestation), despite not yet having developed four chambers:

The Beating Heart in Slow Motion: 4 1/2 Weeks Pregnant

Like every state, South Carolina also prohibits the killing and neglect of human beings after birth.

Based on information from police, it appears Byrum had no intention of helping her child, who had been born weeks after so-called "viability." Babies born as young as 21 weeks can and do survive when given medical care.

She was arrested for neglect and attempted murder — not for an abortion, miscarriage, or mere "pregnancy outcome," as pro-abortion writer Jessica Valenti claimed.

Why It Matters:

When the Biden administration loosened FDA restrictions on the abortion pill, it allowed abortion pills to be distributed through the mail. Women are now able to order the abortion pill and take it at home without any medical supervision, pregnancy confirmation, or gestational age determination. Obviously, this puts preborn children in danger, but it also puts those women in danger. This is due to the serious risks associated with abortion drugs; mifepristone, the abortion pill, comes with the risk of incomplete abortion, hemorrhaging, and infection.

It is unclear exactly what drugs Byrum took.

Due to an increase in at-home abortion pill use, women are often taking the abortion pill mifepristone well beyond the FDA's limit of 10 weeks, which increases the chances of the drug's failure which may cause infants to be born alive.

The federal Born-Alive Infants Protection Act of 2002 affords legal protections to any infant born alive after a failed abortion. Byrum appears to have intended to let her born-alive baby die, which is in violation of the law.

While pro-abortion activists believe no baby's death should be investigated and they classify the death of a newborn infant as nothing more than a "pregnancy outcome," murdering and neglecting a living newborn is illegal and immoral and can not be ignored.

The Bottom Line:

Abortion activists are using stories like Byrum's to blur the line between legalized abortion and infanticide. They want society to believe both are acceptable choices for women. In reality, abortion and infanticide are the same because they are both the unjust killing of innocent children.

Editor's Note 11/24/25: This article was updated with more information from police on the use of misoprostol in this case.