Countries where women's health care providers are turned into informants against them

St. Joseph County Prosecutor Michael Dvorak: Drop the "feticide" charge against Purvi Patel
Natasha Chart Campaign Director
RH Reality Check
December 17, 2014
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This Friday, December 19th, an Indiana trial court will hold a hearing on criminal charges brought against Purvi Patel, an Indiana woman who says that she suffered a stillbirth. Prosecutors have charged Ms. Patel with two contradictory charges. They claim that she gave birth to a newborn and then neglected the infant, charging Ms. Patel with “neglect of a dependent.” Simultaneously, they claim that she intentionally terminated her pregnancy, charging her with the crime of “feticide.” Both crimes are felonies that are punishable by between six and 20 years in prison.

St. Joseph County Prosecutor Michael Dvorak must not use Indiana’s feticide law to punish pregnant women who have abortions or experience stillbirths, and should immediately drop the "feticide" charge against Purvi Patel.

Neglecting to provide care for a newborn is a serious offense, morally and legally. Yet the contradictory charges make clear that the prosecutors are not themselves convinced that this is what happened. Instead the State of Indiana seeks to use the prosecution of Ms. Patel to establish legal precedent for using the state’s feticide law to lock up women who have abortions or experience stillbirths Indiana's feticide law was passed with the state legislature's claim that it was for the protection of pregnant women. If this charge is allowed to stand, it will be clear that it was never anything more than an attempt by the State of Indiana to criminalize women who have abortions or are unable to carry a pregnancy to term. Criminalizing abortion is dangerous for women and ruinous for their families.

Indiana must not go the way of El Salvador and other countries where abortion is criminalized. In these countries, where women's health care providers are turned into informants against them, pregnant women are avoiding medical care for fear that any problem in pregnancy will be reported to law enforcement. Mothers are not only going to jail for having abortions, but also for suffering miscarriages and stillbirths...