Repro Wrap: Woman Convicted for Both 'Feticide' and 'Neglect' and Other News
Repro Wrap: Woman Convicted for Both 'Feticide' and 'Neglect' and Other News | Care2 Causes
It was a horrible week for reproductive rights, as Indiana woman Purvi Patel was found guilty of two conflicting charges – “feticide” the act of intentionally causing the death of a fetus, and “neglect of a dependent” which requires that a baby be born. Somehow, despite the fact that the two events could not have happened simultaneously, a jury found her guilty of both crimes, and she will now face up to 70 years in prison, all because she had a late miscarriage and then showed up to a hospital for follow up care after having disposed of the body on her own.
One of the biggest factors in the guilty verdict, according to jurors, is the pictures they were shown of the wrapped fetus after it was found in a dumpster. “When they actually showed us, we were expecting something that wasn’t formed and this baby obviously was very formed. It was a boy and he had his arms, his legs, his toes, his fingers. That’s when it started touching home for a lot of us women that were on the jury,” one juror told a local news station. “That still chokes me up because I can see those in my mind and I just, I wanted so much to believe her, you know?”
It was these images that made jurors find her guilty despite there being no medical proof that the fetus did in fact take a breath or was actually born alive, as prosecutors had claimed, nor was there any evidence of any medication in Patel’s system in blood tests. That idea should be terrifying to everyone; abortion opponents are not only still determined to see this as a do it yourself abortion, but are fine with stating that the rest of her life in prison is exactly what Patel deserves. “We agree the prosecutor should have pursued this because it involves an innocent human life,” said St. Joseph County Right to Life Program Director Jeanette Burdell. “Unfortunately, this case shows that our culture and our society have devalued human life to the point where this mother might not have been fully aware of the gravity of her actions. This is the impact of legalized abortion.”
So much for claims of not wanting to punish women if they get illegal abortions.
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In legislative news, the state of Arizona is proposing a hospital admitting privileges bill they hope will close the state’s few remaining abortion clinics. North Carolina is considering its own new set of clinic rules after anti-abortion advocates declared last year’s rules not obstructive enough. Idaho and Arkansas are both moving ahead with their telemed abortion bans, which are expected to pass easily this session. The D&E ban in Kansas had its first committee meeting, and advocates hope they can fast track the new bill to get it through the chambers quickly. Michigan, meanwhile, wants to have additional reporting requirements at abortion clinics, but some bill opponents say it’s just a way to try to make the procedure look more dangerous than it really is.
This week waiting periods were introduced in Florida and Oklahoma. Florida would put a 24 hour waiting period into place, making a patient have two face to face meetings with a doctor prior to the procedure. Oklahoma already has a 24 hour wait in place but wants to expand that to 72 hours instead.
West Virginia has introduced a 20 week abortion ban, hoping to have more success this year after last year’s bill was vetoed by the governor. Missouri, not content to be one of the most restrictive states in the country with its 72 hour wait and one clinic in the state, now wants to make a patient watch fetal development videos prior to her procedure. Washington state introduced a parental notification bill, and a judge in Wyoming has ruled that Wyoming’s parental notification law can be heard by the state courts (until now it has been blocked).
Although Alabama and Kansas have both claimed they might be considering “heartbeat” abortion bans this year, making abortion illegal as early as 6 weeks into a pregnancy, it’s likely that moderate abortion opponents will see that those bills never happen. Mother Jones explains why here.
So if anti-abortion activists want to keep to moderate bills like 20 week bans versus Personhood and heartbeat bans, why did the federal 20 week ban fall to pieces? Here’s a little more about how it all went down in Congress.
Are all these massive abortion restrictions having the additional affect of bringing more people to clinics to harass patients and providers? Clinic owners and doctors say yes, and they have documentation to prove it.
Finally, in some good news this week, Wyoming defeated a mandatory ultrasound proposal.
Sadly, that’s all the good news we have.
(emphasis added)
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http://www.care2.com/causes/repro-wrap-woman-convicted-for-both-feticide-and-neglect-and-other-news.html
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