Indiana imprisons a woman for 41 years for a crime they didn't prove.

[PuffinsAreFictitious]

www.politicalresearch.org/2015/03/29/how-indiana-is-making-it-possible-to-jail-women-for-having-abortions/#

rhrealitycheck.org/article/2015/03/30/purvi-patel-sentenced-41-years-feticide-neglect-dependent/

This is just horrendous. The prosecution's own experts couldn't show that she had taken any of the medication, nor that the miscarriage had been expelled alive.

It seems to me as though the prosecutors felt the sentence for feticide was insufficiently harsh so they found another charge.

Not necessarily.

Do you think women in UK already feel threatened and criminalised when they miscarry?

We have very similar laws here to those under which this case was brought, and a woman can be prosecuted for leaving a live-born baby to die by asphyxiation.

But of course, it doesn't happen. And no-one worries it will. Because unless there was a level of evidence that leads DPP to conclude there is a reasonable chance would satisfy a jury of criminal intention, there will be no prosecution.

As pointed out above, her actions around an abortifacient drugs, outside the provisions for legal abortion, are utterly different from a spontaneous miscarriage.

I agree, there is evidence that she brought about the miscarriage and so feticide is a fair thing to investigate.

If you stab someone, you don't also get charged with not dialling 999 afterwards if it takes them a few seconds to die.

I know it can be hard to obtain a legal termination in some states. But I still think this woman was fairly prosecuted and convicted. A 28 week old baby deserves a chance.

(My friend just gave birth to a 28 week old last week so maybe I am not feeling very logical about it though.)

If they'd chosen to keep driving and see how she was in the morning, the outcome would have been different

Yes it would and they might have been facing charges if they knew the baby was on its way and they did nothing. In her case she obviously very deliberately put herself in a place where care was impossible.

"She says the baby had air in its lungs after she tried CPR. Blowing sir into a baby's mouth would put air in the lungs so I don't see how they can prove it ever lived."

As I understand it, the way she said she did this was so ineffective that it wouldn't have put any air in the lungs

"Yes it would and they might have been facing charges if they knew the baby was on its way and they did nothing."

Still, is that the case in the UK? My understanding is that the foetus has no personhood before birth so actions the mother chooses before birth (including hang gliding at 38 weeks or whatever) could not result in criminal or civil liability. Wasn't that the back drop to the FAS case for compensation failing?

So in fact the woman gave birth to her live fetus at 28-30 weeks gestation possibly due to the consumption of labour inducing tablets, she didn't help the ( now baby ) and instead dumped in a bin.

To be honest I'll save my sympathy for other women.

I frequently resuscitate newborn babies. If you blow air into a baby's mouth it will put air into the lungs. I think the woman said it was unsuccessful in that it didn't resusciate the fetus/baby, but that doesn't mean that air wasn't put into the lungs by her efforts.

gothgirl. Or she did a diy abortion using Internet bought medication due partly to being scared of her parents finding out if she sought medical help and quite possibly due to the scarcity of abortion clinics in the USA. It's not uncommon to have to drive days to get to the nearest one. So if she has to go for a few days trip for an initial appt, then another time for the proceedure it's difficult to explain those absences to her strict parents.

So took a tablet, delivered a dead fetus? Like hundreds of women do every day in this country. And will now serve over 20 years in prison. I have sympathy for her.

Gothgirl, there are contradictory reports on the foetal age - here it cites 24 weeks, which of course is the uk time limit:

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/feb/04/purvi-patel-found-guilty-feticide-unborn-childs-death

Though I accept there's a difference between doing it at 11 weeks and doing it at 28 weeks. Poor woman must have been desperate. I guess it took some time to source the medication.

If there was better access to abortion in America maybe she would just have easily accessed that. Quick day proceedure, nobody finds out.

Whether she was desperate, scared of her parents or what she knew what the consequences would be if she did not follow the legal route - she had other options but disregarded them. She's 33, not a child the excuses above just patronise her.

She also knew prior to having sex what the deal was in regards to abortion, so IMO she was irresponsible in that respect too.

"She also knew prior to having sex what the deal was in regards to abortion, so IMO she was irresponsible in that respect too." Yes women. Just keep your legs shut .

Funny how it's perfectly okay to say it about men though isn't it. How many times is that line trotted out... 'if he doesn't want children the only true contraceptive is no sex' - but god forbid we hold a woman to the same standards.

She was 33. She knew damn well what it was like in her area to get an abortion, she knew it would either involve travelling or illegal and dangerous activities. She made a decision which she was well within her right to do, and she's now dealing with the consequences.

Grays, do you think it was right that she was charged with both feticide and neglect?

No actually. Because as someone mentioned upthread how can it be both. Attempted feticide and neglect would make more sense, or feticide on its own. However I don't make the laws.

No it isn't always said about men. I've only ever seen it on MN tbh. And that's because society doesn't hold men to the same standards as those expected of women. You are just reiterating what we see everywhere else.

She is 33 and apparently the co-owner with her brother of a restaurant and owner of an expensive vehicle. I think Aga posted that there are clinics in the near vicinity of her home.
As far as I can tell Indiana permits abortion in the first and second trimester. Women will be put through a guilt trip of being asked , but not forced, to look at scans/ listen to scans , but abortion isn't illegal.

Although having said that the sentence is horrendous.

Can't do link atm but theres a New York Times article asking good questions re this case.