An Illinois man has been accused of inserting abortion drugs into his pregnant girlfriend without her consent, allegedly causing the woman to experience a medical emergency and suffer a miscarriage, resulting in the loss of her unborn child and criminal charges for himself.
Emerson Evans, 31, from Normal, Illinois, is charged with two counts of intentional homicide of an unborn child, according to IPM News. Evans appeared before Judge Amy McFarland on Aug 25 for a pretrial detention hearing.
McFarland agreed with prosecutors that Evans should remain at McLean County Jail as he awaits trial, IPM News reports. The suspect’s arraignment is scheduled for Sept. 12.
Authorities took Evans into custody last week after the Bloomington Police Department and the Bloomington Fire Department were dispatched to a residence in Bloomington last week. Once they arrived, they found a pregnant woman experiencing a medical emergency, according to an Aug. 23 press release from the Bloomington Police Department.
Investigators later determined that Evans administered abortion drugs to his girlfriend without her knowledge or consent, according to authorities.
The suspect allegedly inserted four Mifepristone pills into his girlfriend’s vaginal area when she was seven weeks pregnant, IPM News said.
Mifepristone is the first drug taken as part of the abortion pill regimen. It cuts off the blood supply and nutrients to the preborn baby by blocking the hormone progesterone.
The pregnant woman began experiencing complications after her boyfriend allegedly inserted the abortion pills into her, thus causing her miscarriage, according to the police.
"We are again saddened by the alleged criminal actions which resulted in harm to others. It is my hope the mother involved in the matter fully recovers and has the resources and support of this strong community in the future," said Bloomington Police Chief Jamal Simington in the press statement.
During the pretrial hearing last Monday, public defender John David Nairn cited Evans’ role as a father who coaches youth sports as a reason for the suspect’s release, according to IPM News.
Nairn also argued that Evans is not a threat to society because his alleged victim was an unborn child.
While McFarland acknowledged that abortion is legal in Illinois, she noted that the number of abortion pills Evans allegedly inserted into his girlfriend “demonstrates lack of knowledge or consent” by the pregnant woman.
The judge also quoted a statement that Evans gave to the police, in which he admitted that he had “made the decision for her." McFarland asserted that the suspect chose to “effectuate his beliefs of what should occur in the absence of consent.”
"That involved taking a life,” she said. “That is the broader threat.”
In the state of Illinois, the intentional homicide of an unborn child is illegal, but the code does not apply to legal abortions.
Evans is not the first man to face charges after allegedly slipping abortion drugs to a pregnant woman without her consent.
A lawsuit filed earlier this month in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas seeks to recover damages from Marine pilot-in-training Christopher Cooprider and Aid Access for the “wrongful death” of a Texas woman’s child.
According to the lawsuit, the woman, Liana Davis, learned earlier this year that she was pregnant with Cooprider’s baby. In April, Cooprider allegedly dissolved several abortion pills in a cup of hot chocolate that Davis drank, prompting her to hemorrhage and lose her baby, a girl whom she had named Joy.
Another man accused of slipping abortion drugs to a pregnant woman, Justin Banta, met with his girlfriend at a coffee shop in October 2024, where he reportedly added abortion-inducing drugs to her drink. The woman was six weeks pregnant at the time. She also lost her baby.
In June, the Parker County Sheriff's Office in Texas announced that Banta is facing an attempted capital murder charge and one count of tampering with evidence with intent to impair an investigation.
Last year, Texas attorney Mason Herring was sentenced to 180 days in jail after he pleaded guilty to drugging drinks that he gave to his wife, Catherine Herring, to abort the couple’s unborn daughter. The man attempted to end his wife’s pregnancy in March 2022 because the couple was going through a separation at the time.
In a March 2024 interview with The Christian Post, Herring said that she underwent the abortion pill reversal process to save her unborn daughter’s life. The mother confirmed that her daughter was still alive, but has a few developmental issues.
