Tiger80 Posted April 3, 2015 Posted April 3, 2015 It isn't justice for Purvi Patel to serve 20 years in prison for an abortion Abortion is illegal in the United States. So is having a stillbirth – not officially, perhaps, but thanks to a case in Indiana, we’re halfway there. On Monday, Purvi Patel, a 33 year old woman who says that she had a miscarriage, was sentenced to 20 years in prison for neglect of a dependent and feticide. She is the first woman in the United States to ever be sentenced for such a crime. In July 2013, Patel went to the emergency room with heavy bleeding. She eventually admitted to miscarrying a stillborn fetus and placing it in a bag in a dumpster. (Patel lived with her religiously conservative parents who did not believe in premarital sex.) After police searched Patel’s cellphone, they found text messages that suggested she bought abortion-inducing drugs online. Despite the fact that no traces of any abortifacent were found in Patel’s blood work taken at the hospital, the prosecution argued that she had taken the drugs mentioned in her text messages and caused her miscarriage at 23-24 weeks of pregnancy. And, in legal maneuvering that defies imagination, Patel was charged not just with fetal homicide, but with neglecting a child. As the Guardian reported last year, these charges are completely contradictory: neglecting a child means that you neglected a live child, and feticide means that the baby was born dead. But logic has never been at the center of the draconian laws and arrest policies that target pregnant women: control is. As Lynn Paltrow, the executive director of the National Advocates for Pregnant Women, told me last year about laws aimed at drug-using pregnant women, this kind of prosecution “is about making pregnant women – from the time an egg is fertilized – subject to state surveillance, control and extreme punishment.†And, as with other laws that hurt pregnant women, Indiana’s feticide law was not intended (explicitly, anyway) to be a policy that affected women: it was supposedly designed to target illegal abortion providers. But despite the anti-choice insistence that women are “victims†of abortion providers, the history of how similar laws are used show just how much it’s women – and women of color in particular – who are directly impacted by “fetal protection†policies. Advertisement After a feticide law was passed in Texas in 2003, for example, a local district attorney used the opportunity to send a letter to all doctors in her county that they were now legally required to report any pregnant women using drugs. Doctors complied, and and more than 50 women were reported and charged with crimes. We may never know what really happened in Patel’s case. She has repeatedly said that she had a miscarriage which, if true, means that the state is sending a woman to jail for not having a healthy pregnancy outcome. But even if Patel did procure and take drugs to end her pregnancy, are we really prepared to send women to jail for decades if they have abortions? Even illegal ones? When women are desperate to end their pregnancies, they will. The answer to this shouldn’t be punitive, but supportive: women need better access to education, affordable contraception and abortion without harassment or delay. Patel’s case opens the door for any woman who expresses doubt about her pregnancy to be charged if she miscarries or has a stillbirth. It’s a terrifying thought, but one that is already impacting real women: the anti-choice movement is now sending women to jail for what happens during their pregnancies. So tell me again how abortion is totally legal. Or tell Purvi Patel. http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/apr/02/it-isnt-justice-for-purvi-patel-to-serve-20-years-in-prison-for-an-abortion
beetle Posted April 3, 2015 Posted April 3, 2015 23-24 week old fetus is a viable fetus.If born...it has a good chance of survival under medical care. If they have evidence...then it is murder. There are laws for abortion.She had the option of terminating pregnancy within the legal window.She could have given the baby for adoption.A mature educated woman should know better.She lives in a country where this is not such a big taboo....and she and the baby would have some kind of basic support system.
Tiger80 Posted April 3, 2015 Author Posted April 3, 2015 23-24 week old fetus is a viable fetus.If born...it has a good chance of survival under medical care. If they have evidence...then it is murder. There are laws for abortion.She had the option of terminating pregnancy within the legal window.She could have given the baby for adoption.A mature educated woman should know better.She lives in a country where this is not such a big taboo....and she and the baby would have some kind of basic support system. She said that she thought she is 2 months pregnant. Anyway this is harsh 20 years is too much for a person with non criminal record
beetle Posted April 3, 2015 Posted April 3, 2015 20 years is too harsh.A 33 year old should know the difference between 2 month and 6 month pregnancy. If she could google abortion pills....she could have googled the legality of her act also. Plus throwing away a baby(23-24 year old fetus have a high survival rate..over 50%)in a trash bin doesn't put her in a good light. It's not like abortion is illegal. Women have been given rights over their pregnancy.But beyond a point in pregnancy,the fetus also should have a right. Even then ,the mother's life takes priority over the life of the baby. You cannot be the only one with rights. She is not some immature teenager....
gattaca Posted April 3, 2015 Posted April 3, 2015 She said that she thought she is 2 months pregnant. Anyway this is harsh 20 years is too much for a person with non criminal record This is indiana. We now have religious freedom act. Look it up it is hilarious.
gattaca Posted April 3, 2015 Posted April 3, 2015 There way a blog I was reading about indian americans and crime in US. Most of them get sentences like this. I dont know if they hire good legal counsel.
achilles Posted April 5, 2015 Posted April 5, 2015 20 years is too harsh.A 33 year old should know the difference between 2 month and 6 month pregnancy. If she could google abortion pills....she could have googled the legality of her act also. Plus throwing away a baby(23-24 year old fetus have a high survival rate..over 50%)in a trash bin doesn't put her in a good light. It's not like abortion is illegal. Women have been given rights over their pregnancy.But beyond a point in pregnancy,the fetus also should have a right. Even then ,the mother's life takes priority over the life of the baby. You cannot be the only one with rights. She is not some immature teenager.... Its fantastic that all of the above comes from a woman. Good job Radhika!
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