INDIANAPOLIS (AP) – Attorneys for an Indiana woman found guilty of killing the premature infant that she delivered after ingesting abortion-inducing drugs will soon ask an appeals court to throw out her convictions.
At issue is Indiana’s feticide statute, which the defense says was “passed to protect pregnant women from violence” that could harm their developing fetus, not to prosecute women for their own abortions. The state says the law “is not limited to third-party actors.”
The state’s attorney general’s office will defend the northern Indiana jury’s decision.
Thirty-five-year-old Purvi Patel was arrested in July 2013 after she sought medical treatment after delivering a baby boy of at least 25 weeks gestation and putting his body in a trash bin. Court records show Patel ingested abortion-inducing drugs she purchased online.
She was sentenced to 20 years in prison.
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