Indiana woman gets 20-year sentence for feticide based on claim she illegally ended her pregnancy
A Granger, Indiana, woman was sentenced to 20 years in prison on Monday for using illegal means to end her pregnancy.
Purvi Patel, 33, was convicted of feticide for ending the pregnancy and child neglect for failing to get help for the newborn, report the South Bend Tribune, NBC News and the Washington Post. Patel is the first woman in the United States to be charged and convicted on a feticide charge for ending her own pregnancy, according to National Advocates for Pregnant Women, a group led by Lynn Paltrow.
Defense lawyers had argued it was inconsistent to charge Patel with killing her unborn child and failing to aid a living child, but Judge Elizabeth Hurley rejected the argument, according to the Washington Post.
Prosecutors pointed to text messages supporting the conclusion that Patel ordered illegal abortion-inducing drugs online, while the defense argued that toxicology reports found no evidence of drugs in her system.
Authorities got involved after Patel sought treatment and an emergency room doctor reported the incident as suspected child abuse. Patel had said she had a miscarriage and disposed of the fetus. She also said she wanted to hide the pregnancy from her parents because they were strict Hindus.
Police discovered the newborn in July 2013 in a dumpster behind a restaurant owned by Patel’s family. Patel treated the baby “literally as a piece of trash,” Hurley said during sentencing.
An appeal is planned.
