Charges of neglect, feticide against Purvi Patel, in Indiana.
By The American Bazaar Staff
WASHINGTON, DC: An Indian American woman, Purvi Patel, 33, who had tried to abort her baby, but when she gave birth after seven months and threw her fetus away, will now stand trial in Indiana for two counts of felony: neglect in the birth of the newborn and feticide. If found guilty of neglect, she could end up 50 years in prison.
Reports said Patel had taken some drugs she ordered from Hong Kong last year, in July, to abort the fetus. The drugs induced labor, at which point Patel allegedly took the newborn fetus and tossed it into the dumpster behind a Moe’s Southwest Grill in Mishawaka, which her family owns, reported local CBS News affiliate WSBT.
An investigation showed that Patel put the fetus in a grocery bag and then threw it into the dumpster, stifling the baby’s chances of life. An autopsy conducted by police showed that Patel cut the umbilical cord herself, but the worst part is that the baby was apparently alive when Patel did the act. She later admitted herself to hospital as she was bleeding vaginally, and there confessed the act upon questioning.
Patel has filed a not guilty plea to the charges of felony as she said she though the fetus was not alive when she gave birth.
The Indianapolis Star reported that St. Joseph Superior Court Judge Elizabeth Hurley ruled the charge of feticide can also can stand against Patel, of Granger.
Defense attorney Jeff Sanford had asked Hurley to strike the feticide charge that prosecutors added last week, saying he didn’t have time to prepare a defense before Patel’s scheduled September 29 trial.
The judge has given more time for the defense in the new charge of feticide also, and that date is going to be rescheduled, reported The South Bend Tribune.
Chief Deputy Prosecutor Mark Roule said the state has made it clear since October it intended to file a feticide charge if the case went to trial. He said the two charges stemmed from the same set of facts and spurred no new discovery specifically related to feticide.
Indiana law defines feticide as knowingly or intentionally terminating a human pregnancy with an intention other than to produce a live birth or to remove a dead fetus. Feticide carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. Neglect carries a maximum sentence of 50 years.
According to the Star, Indiana has a safe-haven law in which a parent, relative, family friend or others can give up custody of a baby less than 30 days old to a hospital emergency room or police or fire station without fear of arrest or prosecution.
The Daily Beast put out a provocative commentary piece on Patel’s case, questioning the validity of the case, and Indiana’s harsh anti-abortion laws. The piece said if women like Patel are sentenced to jail, the chances of other women being found criminals if something goes amiss in a pregnancy would be high. It also pointed out that the state of Indiana was determined to punish Patel, adding on the charges of feticide to ensure that either neglect or feticide could be proved in court.
Patel is the second woman in Indiana to be charged with “feticide”. A woman named Bei Bei Shuai was incarcerated for a year on the charge, after she tried to commit suicide during her pregnancy. Nationwide, at least 37 other states have similar laws that have restricted the rights of pregnant women under the guise of supposedly protecting fetuses, said the Beast.
“…the utter illogic of the legal prosecution simply echoes the illogic of Indiana’s law and others like them—which not only unconscionably (and arguably unconstitutionally) restrict a woman’s right to abortion but tread dangerously close to criminalizing pregnancy as a whole,” said the Beast report.
“If you do your job as a woman and give perfect birth to a perfect baby, you’re safe. But God forbid anything go wrong, that you have any complications either due to your own actions or actions that could be attributed to you, that you as a woman fail in your duty as a vessel for the fetus—the rights of which the State of Indiana is clearly more invested in than your own. What then?” the piece said.
The piece also observed: “Every time a woman is prosecuted under these extremist anti-abortion laws, or every time another such law is passed, it becomes increasingly obvious to anyone paying attention that the supposed quest to protect fetuses is quite plainly and simply a war on the women who carry them.”
1 Comment
As the leftists (the Beast) proceed to the next step — killing the born babies. Disgusting.