NC prosecutor drops 'deadly weapon' charge against teen accused of taking abortion pills

A North Carolina district attorney has dropped all criminal charges against an 18-year-old accused of taking abortion pills late in her pregnancy. Durham County District Attorney Satana Deberry, a Democrat, explained why in a five-page letter sent Tuesday, Oct. 27, to the defense lawyers ¹³¹⁴.

The case drew national attention because one of the charges was assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill, over the alleged taking of the pills. She also faced charges of negligent child abuse and assault inflicting serious bodily injury on an unborn child. Her boyfriend, reported as 19 or 20, faced a negligent child abuse charge ¹³⁶.

Neither was convicted of anything, and the charges were dropped ¹.

Police alleged that she took abortion medication at about 31 weeks of pregnancy. First responders came to the couple's home in late July, found the newborn in a toilet and detected a pulse ²⁵. The baby was resuscitated, now lives with the young woman's mother and is not expected to have long-term effects, The News & Observer of Raleigh reported ¹.

From Channel GOPBash asks Blanche: Is your job helping Republicans?Todd Blanche · 198 plays · captioned, with the source named

Search warrants say she learned in June that she was 20 weeks pregnant and ordered the medication from Virginia. WRAL reported that the drug, mifepristone, is legal in North Carolina for abortions up to 12 weeks ⁵.

What the prosecutor wrote

Deberry started with the assault charge. She wrote that North Carolina law does not treat a pregnant woman as able to batter herself ¹³.

A mother may not commit battery against herself.

State law also bars prosecution under its unborn-child crimes article for acts by a pregnant woman regarding her own unborn child ¹⁴. The child abuse law covers children under 16, Deberry noted, and she cited a 1981 state Supreme Court decision holding that a fetus is not a person under the state constitution ¹³. In her words, "prenatal personhood cannot be read into this statute." ³

She also questioned the evidence. The boyfriend told investigators she took the medication a few days before the birth, but medical records do not show when or at what dose ¹⁵. "[I]t is unclear if the substances she ingested were the probable cause of the preterm delivery," Deberry wrote, adding, "Spontaneous preterm labor and delivery are not uncommon." ¹

She pointed to the boyfriend's 911 call and the couple's unsupervised visits with the baby as evidence that they did not intend harm ¹. And she said any expansion of the law has to come from legislators, not from her office: "The Durham County District Attorney will not ask the Court to create a new class of victims," she wrote. "That is the role of the NC General Assembly." ¹

The other side, and the limits

Abortion opponents say Deberry's views decided this case. LifeSiteNews, which opposes abortion, accused her of bias ¹⁵. In August, she told reporters she had said publicly that "a woman has the right to choose and has the right to make decisions about her own body." ⁵ She also pledged in 2022 not to prosecute abortion cases in her district ⁶.

Deberry's letter is a prosecutor's decision, not a court ruling. That matters because it does not bind a prosecutor in any other county. Maxine Eichner, a University of North Carolina law professor, told The News & Observer in August that the case sat in a legal gray area and that fetal-rights arguments have gained ground in some courts. "That is not a settled issue in North Carolina law," she said ¹.

Why this case reaches beyond Durham

Jessica Valenti, who writes the newsletter Abortion, Every Day, called the letter "a document that could very well be used as a model for other prosecutors faced with pregnancy criminalization cases." ³

The need for such a model is growing, advocates say. A report this month from the legal group Pregnancy Justice counted at least 902 criminal cases tied to pregnancy, pregnancy loss or birth in the first three years after the Supreme Court's Dobbs decision ended the national right to abortion ⁷. Of the allegations it tracked, 13 involved obtaining, attempting or researching an abortion. Lawmakers also filed 14 bills in 2026 to charge people who have abortions with homicide, though none passed ⁷.

"Fetal personhood is at the root of these cases," said Dana Sussman, the group's senior vice president. Fetal personhood is the idea that an embryo or fetus should count as a legal person ⁷.

The pattern is larger than one county. On a recorded call with faith leaders convened by the White House Faith Office and reported in early August, Todd Blanche, now the U.S. attorney general, described what the Justice Department was working on with federal health agencies and the White House ⁸.

to get permanent solutions so that the Dobbs decision becomes permanent in every single state

The Justice Department told Politico that his comments about victory referred to mail-order abortion drugs ⁸. The Senate confirmed Blanche 50-49 on Aug. 8 ⁹. That matters here because the warrants said these pills came from another state ⁵. LifeSiteNews reports that a federal appeals court, the Fourth Circuit, is also considering whether North Carolina can limit abortion pills more tightly than federal rules do ¹⁵.

The record, and Tuesday's ballot

Deberry's line about the General Assembly points to Raleigh. In May 2023, the Republican-controlled legislature overrode Gov. Roy Cooper's veto of the state's 12-week abortion ban on party-line votes, 30-20 in the Senate and 72-48 in the House ¹⁰¹¹¹⁸. "Senate Bill 20 will save lives and provide needed support for women and families," House Speaker Tim Moore, a Republican, said at the time ¹⁰.

I will continue doing everything I can to protect abortion access in North Carolina because women's lives depend on it

Cooper, a Democrat, is now running for the U.S. Senate against Republican Michael Whatley, a former Republican National Committee chair ¹².

Deberry's name is on Tuesday's ballot as well, but she has no November opponent, and her third term begins Jan. 1 ¹⁴. Voters in Missouri, Idaho, Virginia and Nevada will decide abortion measures the same day ¹⁷.

The Record

1. May 16, 2023North Carolina's Republican-controlled legislature overrides Gov. Roy Cooper's veto of a 12-week abortion ban, 30-20 in the Senate and 72-48 in the House ¹⁰¹⁸.
2. Aug 4, 2026An 18-year-old and her boyfriend are arrested in Durham after police allege she took abortion pills at about 31 weeks ².
3. Aug 8, 2026The Senate confirms Todd Blanche as attorney general 50-49, days after a recording surfaced of his remarks about making Dobbs permanent in every state ⁸⁹.
4. Oct 20, 2026The Nation reports on a Pregnancy Justice count of at least 902 pregnancy-related criminal cases in the three years after Dobbs ⁷.
5. Oct 27, 2026District Attorney Satana Deberry sends a letter explaining her dismissal of all charges against the couple ¹³.

Sources

1. The News & Observer (via Yahoo News), “Letter explains why Durham County DA dropped young couple's abortion charges” (2026-10-28). yahoo.com/news/politics/articles/letter-explains-why-durham-
2. The News & Observer (via Yahoo News), “DA drops charges against NC teen accused of attempted medication abortion” (2026-10-28). yahoo.com/news/us/articles/da-drops-charges-against-nc-14544
3. Abortion, Every Day, “Prosecutor Refuses to Treat Teen's Abortion Pills as "Deadly Weapon"” (2026-10-29). jessica.substack.com/p/prosecutor-refuses-to-treat-teens
4. North Carolina General Assembly, “G.S. 14-23.7” (2023-01-01). ncleg.gov/EnactedLegislation/Statutes/HTML/BySection/Chapter
5. WRAL, “Warrants: Durham couple faces charges after woman took abortion pills in third trimester” (2026-08-05). wral.com/news/local/abortion-charges-mifespristone-durham-au
6. Truthout, “North Carolina Teen Was Arrested for Allegedly Self-Managing an Abortion” (2026-08-11). truthout.org/articles/north-carolina-teen-was-arrested-for-a
7. The Nation, “The Terrifying Future of States' Criminalizing Pregnant People Is Already Here” (2026-10-20). thenation.com/article/society/criminalization-pregnancy-subs
8. The New Republic, “Todd Blanche recording on abortion and Dobbs” (2026-08-05). newrepublic.com/article/213977/todd-blanche-claiming-ban-abo
9. Michigan Public (NPR), “Senate votes to confirm Todd Blanche as attorney general” (2026-08-08). michiganpublic.org/2026-08-08/senate-votes-to-confirm-todd-b
10. ABC11 Raleigh-Durham, “NC House and Senate override Cooper's abortion bill veto, measure becomes law” (2023-05-17). abc11.com/post/nc-abortion-north-carolina-ban-bill/13254312/
11. 6abc Philadelphia, “North Carolina bans abortion after 12 weeks after legislature overrides governor's veto” (2023-05-17). 6abc.com/post/north-carolina-abortion-ban-12-week-veto-overr
12. NOTUS, “Michael Whatley and Roy Cooper Are Set to Battle for North Carolina's Senate Seat” (2026-03-03). washingtonsun.com/2026-election/north-carolina-senate-primar
13. guides.vote, “2026 North Carolina US Senate Voters Guide” (2026-10-30). guides.vote/?p=5326
14. The 9th Street Journal, “Deberry wins Durham DA primary, securing third term” (2026-03-04). 9thstreetjournal.org/2026/03/04/deberry-wins-big-in-durham-d
15. LifeSiteNews, “Pro-abortion DA won't charge couple who tried to kill unborn baby at 31 weeks” (2026-10-29). lifesitenews.com/news/pro-abortion-da-wont-charge-couple-who
16. The Christian Post, “5-pound baby survives a toilet birth — and abortion pill suppliers walk free” (2026-08-20). christianpost.com/voices/5-lb-baby-survives-a-toilet-birth-a
17. Prism, “Four states will soon vote on the future of abortion rights” (2026-10-26). prismreports.org/2026/10/26/four-states-will-soon-vote-on-th
18. ABC7 Chicago, “North Carolina 12-week abortion ban goes into effect, down from 20-week limit” (2023-07-01). abc7chicago.com/north-carolina-12-week-abortion-ban-goes-int

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