On March 30, 2015, a 33-year-old Indiana resident named Purvi Patel was sentenced to twenty consecutive years in prison. She is the first woman in the U.S. to be convicted and sentenced on “feticide” charges for ending her own pregnancy.
Patel says she had a miscarriage. Once she arrived, bleeding, at a hospital near South Bend, her doctor called the police on her. The state of Indiana charged her along with the two feticide for allegedly inducing an abortion, and youngster disregard for allegedly having a premature baby then allowing the baby to die — an inconsistent and contradictory set of charges.
On May 23, Ms. Patel’s case comes up for an appeal. And every one of us that care regarding reproductive rights had much better be paying attention, since this case is particularly significant. Farah Diaz-Tello, senior staff attorney at National Advocates for Pregnant Women, told Salon that if the state of Indiana permits Ms. Patel’s prosecution to stand it will certainly modification the method women can easily be prosecuted: “The state has actually used laws that were never ever intended to punish pregnant individuals for losing or ending a pregnancy, and now unless the appellate court actions in, anybody that self-triggers an abortion at any type of stage (which is becoming increasingly common as abortion clinics vanish) could be charged along with feticide.” Permitting a individual to be charged based on the outcome of the pregnancy could mean requiring individuals to prove that a miscarriage or a stillbirth was unintentional.
This is a terribly slippery slope.
It was Dr. Kelly McGuire that was on call Once Patel came to the emergency room of St. Joseph’s Regional Medical Center. Dr. McGuire is listed as pro-life through his affiliation along with American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists. Not only did he call the police, he accompanied them in the search for Ms. Patel’s stillborn fetus. He is the one that proclaimed that it had been a live birth. Later, throughout the trial, Shaku Teas, the pathologist that testified for the defense, determined that the baby was stillborn, telling the court that the fetus’ lungs weren’t created enough to breathe. Yet the pathologist for the prosecution, Joseph Prahlow, testified that the fetus was born alive. News reports from the trial described Prahlow’s usage of the “lung float test” to make this determination. Yet this 17th century test is widely discredited.
“The lung float test was disproven over 100 years ago as an indicator for live birth,” Gregory J. Davis, assistant state medical examiner for Kentucky and a professor of pathology and lab medicine at the University of Kentucky, told the Brand-new York Times. “It’s merely not valid.”
This question of the whether Dr. McGuire was influenced by his own prejudices is crucial. Miriam Yeung, Executive Director of the National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum, says that discovering just what happened to Ms. Patel Might cause others women experiencing a miscarriage to fear going to the hospital for care, particularly if they are immigrants.
“Immigrant women already face barriers in accessing healthcare,” Yeung told Salon. “Unfortunately the actions of this doctor have actually made further misinformation for immigrant women, particularly pregnant women of color, that Might now be a lot more hesitant to access emergency healthcare.”
It is this pretty group of women, women of color, that have actually a great necessity to worry regarding this potential precedent. A 2013 study done by National Advocates for Pregnant Women found that considerable numbers of women — especially Black women — were turned over to authorities by “assisting professionals” in a confidential partnership along with the patient (e.g. doctors, nurses, etc). Diaz-Tello says that exactly how we deal along with this issue will certainly figure out whether we become a country that will certainly incarcerate individuals for having abortions.
“Once Donald Trump said pregnant individuals ought to face some sort of criminal penalty for having abortions, individuals were falling over themselves to distance themselves from that opinion,” Diaz-Tello said. “Well, here’s a case where that is specifically just what happened.”
Both the March for Life and the National Right to Life Committee released statements in the wake of Donald Trump’s appalling remarks saying hat they didn’t believe that women that seek abortions ought to be punished. Neither of those organizations have actually issued a statement on Ms. Patel’s case. Neither responded to my inquiry as to why not, or whether they were preparation to.
The sacred space between doctor and patient has actually become reasonable game for anti-choice advocates that seek any type of and every one of legislation that will certainly make it harder to get hold of a safe abortion.
Of course, it’s not merely the pregnant women that ought to be worried. Last Tuesday, the state of Oklahoma passed a bill that would certainly revoke the medical license from a doctor that performed an abortion for any type of necessity compared to to save the mother’s life. It would certainly after that send them to prison for up to three years. Senate Bill 1552 defines abortion as “unprofessional conduct” on par with writing false prescriptions and having sex along with patients. SB 1552 provides no exceptions for doctors that perform abortions in the case of rape or incest.
In a couple of short weeks, Once Ms. Patel’s appeal is heard, advocates chance that the charges will certainly be overturned and she will certainly be freed. Diaz-Tello says the ramifications are far reaching.
“No matter exactly how far along she actually joined pregnancy, or whether the pills she was alleged to have actually taken had anything to do along with the outcome of the pregnancy,” said Diaz-Tello, “to permit criminal charges based on a pregnancy outcome has actually huge ramifications for everyone that can easily become pregnant.”
Miriam Yeung, meanwhile, lays out a terrifying scenario:
“This could mean prosecution could be brought for any type of action or inaction by a pregnant person, whether for a self-induced abortion, an accidental fall down the stairs, or a miscarriage. They every one of Might every one of lead to criminalizing pregnancy.”
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Eesha Pandit is a writer and activist based in Houston, TX. You can easily follow her on twitter at <i>@EeshaP, and locate out a lot more regarding her job at eeshapandit.com.