DA Drops Self-Abortion Charges Against Manhattan Woman

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- Prosecutors are not pursuing a case against a Manhattan woman arrested on a rare self-abortion charge after her fetus was found among trash last year.

The Manhattan district attorney's office said Tuesday it's declining to prosecute 20-year-old Yaribely Almonte but continuing to investigate. Prosecutors wouldn't elaborate.

Almonte was arrested in November after the fetus of her unborn daughter was found wrapped in plastic in a garbage bin outside of her West 191st Street apartment.

Before her arrest, the state Criminal Justice Services Division said only four people statewide had been charged with self-abortion since 1980.

The misdemeanor charge concerns a woman forcibly causing a miscarriage when more than six months pregnant.

Authorities previously said they were exploring whether Almonte drank an herbal concoction billed as an abortion-causing tea.

Under New York state law, an abortion can only be performed on a fetus older than 24 weeks if the procedure is necessary to save the woman's life.

The case was dropped before Almonte was to be arraigned.

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