Purvi Patel, the 33-year-old woman charged with feticide and child neglect over the death of her unb
Purvi Patel, the 33-year-old woman charged with feticide and child neglect over the death of her unborn child, has been found guilty of all counts by a jury in Indiana.She was convicted of using abortion drugs that she bought online to terminate her pregnancy, and then also of child neglect once the child was born.The court heard how Patel kept her pregnancy secret from her parents, who are strict Hindus. Her father testified that he taught the principle of no sex before marriage.According to local CBS affiliate WSBT, Patel has said that the baby was already dead when it was born, that she tried to revive it, and that she didn’t call 911 because she was in shock.Court documents show that Patel then went to the St Joseph hospital in Mishawaka, Indiana, bleeding from her vagina. She at first denied having given birth, but told medical staff later that she had delivered a still-born child at home, and had placed the body in a dumpster.The case is seen by women’s rights activists as part of a creeping criminalisation of pregnant women. In 2011, also in Indiana, Bei Bei Shuai was prosecuted under the same feticide laws after a suicide attempt ended in the death of her unborn child.Ms. Patel lives with her parents and grandparents, and has worked for eight years building up the family business, Moe’s restaurant. She works at the restaurant seven days a week, returning home each night to cook for the family and physically assist her grandparents, who are in their nineties. As she faces a sentence of up to 70 years, she worries about what will happen to her family, who may well lose everything. Can you help Purvi Patel and her family today? -- source link
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