An unwanted pregnancy is a scary thing for so many young women. I was sad to learn in recent days that despite the culturally accepted atrocities of legalized abortion, women still seek desperate measures to keep an unplanned pregnancy a secret.
I live in central Pennsylvania and work as a Client Services Manager for a pregnancy help center here. In recent days, our community was shaken by news of a newborn discovered in a roadside embankment 40 minutes from my office.
The 20-year-old mother of the child delivered the baby girl at home and then discarded the infant face down in the ditch, with a cut umbilical cord. According to the police and coroner reports, the full-term child was believed to be alive at birth but had died due to “prolonged environmental exposure” after the mother left her there. There was evidence of insect bites and larvae on the six-pound child from both before and after her death.
The placenta and the remains of the umbilical cord were found 50 feet away in a trash bag in a nearby field.
Jordyn Kauffman was identified as 38 weeks pregnant the day she delivered her daughter and was later charged with homicide. Kauffman told police during her interview that she had held the baby for 30 minutes before she placed the baby in the embankment and went to work. She was later sent to the local hospital as she had hemorrhaging from giving birth.
Police reports stated the hospital staff had reached out to Kauffman numerous times in the preceding months due to her not showing for medical appointments. She had stated to medical professionals last fall that she did not want to have the baby due to fear of her father removing her from her home. Medical personnel said they offered her an appointment to discuss her options, but she did not return.
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Local social media has had a flurry of comments. Many are saddened. It has created a resounding reminder of the Safe Haven laws in our state where “you may bring your newborn (up to 28 days old) to any Pennsylvania hospital, to a police officer at a police station, or an emergency services provider at an EMS station.”
Sadly, though, I think this law is less known than ever.
Because: abortion.
Since the abortion pill has become so readily available, fewer and fewer women think about what to do with a full-term baby they cannot keep.
They decide as soon as the line appears on the home pregnancy test to order the pill. No worries, right?
Sadly, there are those who decide to end the pregnancy even later.
It is unknown why this mother chose to leave her baby to die after 38 weeks of carrying her in her womb.
Since the discovery of this poor deceased baby girl, social media commenters have suggested she should have had easier access to an abortion at this stage. “Abortion is healthcare” was one comment.
Yet, in either circumstance there is a death.
Had this young woman terminated her pregnancy earlier in her gestation or as late as legally allowable in Pennsylvania (24 weeks), the child would have still suffered.
Some of our state legislators want to make abortion legal up until birth. As if lethally injecting an infant at 38 weeks in the womb would be less traumatic than placing the same 38-week-old baby face down in dirt so that maggots and flies could eat at her flesh.
Purposely taking the life of a newborn is never humane.
And somehow this woman is charged with homicide – while if made legal – the same woman who would choose to abort the child at 38 weeks – would go on and live a life as any other citizen.
Where is the justification for this?
What will be the result of this? Will Pennsylvania legislators now fight even harder for full-term abortion legalization? Will this woman’s imprisonment cause an outrage to keep other women from falling into the judicial system?
Or will it cause Pennsylvania pro-life groups to rise up and fight harder to make Safe Havens known, to make pregnancy centers known?
I honestly believe there will be a bit of both coming out of this.
No matter how you spin it, someone will make this an abortion access issue and use this as a graphic illustration in a future House or Senate hearing. Once again abortion will be painted as the only alternative for a woman in such a desperate state of mind.
Pregnancy centers will cry out “we’re here” and the pro-life audience may choose to show up and further lend their support.
Yet something will get lost in this.
Two females will be lost in this.
This precious baby girl who was completely and perfectly innocent will never get to experience all the firsts of this life.
My heart breaks for that beautiful child and I imagine the cries that must have been muffled in that pit of dirt and filth.
Her mother – regardless of her reasoning – will be haunted by this decision and her name will forever be remembered as the woman who put her baby in a ditch to die.
I’ll tell you why I am saddened for her.
On social media there were statements that read, “an eye for an eye.” Others stated they hope she gets the death penalty and “rots in hell.”
Those are great pro-life responses right there (sarcasm).
I would imagine there could be serious mental health or drug addiction or something – something - involved that led her to committing this crime.
And yes, it is still a crime.
Why would any parent in 2026 threaten to make his or her child leave her home due to an unplanned pregnancy? What kind of fear does that invoke? Why are we still ostracizing young people for getting pregnant?
I pray she gets some mental health support as she faces her sentence. We have no idea what has been playing through her mind.
Keep in mind that her crime is no different than the woman who aborts her child.
Our response in the pregnancy help movement should be the same as well. Many of our centers offer abortion recovery. We welcome women into our offices who have chosen to take the lives of their unborn. Why would Jordyn Kauffman be an exception? Why would she deserve the scrutiny and blasts calling for her demise when what she did was in the end what so many women do legally in other states across the country?
This is not the first circumstance in our state where a woman took matters into her own hands and tried to hide the death of her newborn baby.
A teenager in Lancaster, Penn., delivered a baby after taking the abortion pill at 20 weeks. It was only a year ago when Sydney Jones, 17 at the time, delivered the baby with the help of her mother and then is alleged to have buried the remains in the backyard. They have both been criminally charged in the case.
The desperation to keep an unplanned pregnancy a secret has caused too many women to face the consequences very publicly.
Once again this is a pleading cry for the pregnancy centers in Pennsylvania to be known. It’s a cry for support that a woman will not get at her local abortion clinic. Since Dobbs, Pennsylvania has been a battleground as our leftist politicians have fought to not only keep abortion legal and extend that legality to full term, but they also want to silence the pregnancy centers.
Democrat Governor Josh Shapiro has taken funding from Real Alternatives, started his own pilot state pregnancy center. His former attorney general tried to shut down pregnancy centers with a website for complaints, but the new Republican attorney general tore down that site.
If the state had instead helped to place a positive light on pregnancy centers in Pennsylvania, would someone like Jordyn Kauffman have turned to us? Our centers have five locations. She was 40 minutes from my office, but only 14 minutes from one of our other locations and 30 minutes from yet another.
Did she know we exist? Did she understand what we offer?
I am so grateful the Pennsylvania Pregnancy Wellness Collaborative has been in effect the last few years to stay on top of the attacks and to defend pregnancy centers. They are doing all they can in this fight. We need more supporters to rise up in anger over this tragedy and make pregnancy centers known.
Tweet This: The Pennsylvania Pregnancy Wellness Collaborative has over the last few years stayed on top of the attacks and defended pregnancy centers.
I pray that this instance will make more people in our community aware of what a pregnancy center can do for a woman in such a crisis. We have done all we can do on our end. Abortion should not be an option in our state or across the country. I hope this instance makes people search for help and find us. And I pray this will never happen again in Pennsylvania.
Editor's note: Pregnancy Help News publishes a variety of thoughtful perspectives on the life issue. Recognizing there is debate in different areas, views expressed by voices external to Heartbeat International should not be assumed to officially represent those of Heartbeat or Pregnancy Help News.
