America 2015--On The Road To Fascism

It's hard to believe that a woman could be convicted over what she maintains was a home stillbirth.

But last Monday, an Indiana judge issued Purvi Patel a 41 year sentence, with 20 years to be served in prison, for the crimes of feticide and neglect of a dependent.

While Ms. Patel has consistently maintained that she experienced a stillbirth, prosecutors claimed that she attempted to terminate her own pregnancy, but gave birth to a baby who she then neglected and allowed to die.

No physical proof was presented that she'd taken any abortifacient drug.

Only the "float" test, proven to have no scientific value for decades now, was offered as evidence contradicting Patel's account of a stillbirth.

Yet this flimsy case, along with police testimony that Patel didn't cry in the emergency room when she was seeking treatment for uncontrolled bleeding, was enough to convince an Indiana judge and jury to throw the book at her.

No woman should have to worry when having a miscarriage that the medical professionals she goes to for help will become her informants.

She shouldn't have to worry that police will show up to her hospital room and question her without a lawyer present while she's recovering from severe blood loss and physical trauma.

But this is exactly what happened to Purvi Patel, against all decency and common sense.

It should never happen to anyone.

However, Purvi Patel is the second woman Indiana prosecutors have brought criminal charges against over birth outcomes in recent years, as well as the second Asian American woman so targeted.

Women of color, immigrants, and low-income women are particularly vulnerable under feticide laws because they often lack access to healthcare and counseling.

In other countries where abortion is illegal and where women experiencing miscarriages and stillbirths have been criminalized and punished with lengthy prison terms, these policies appear to coincide with increased suicide rates in pregnancy and avoidance of medical care.

No one should have to fear that pregnancy could land them in jail; as public policy, it's as bad for health outcomes as it is vicious towards pregnant women.

Keep fighting,

Natasha Chart
Campaign Director, RH Reality Check