Appeal for Indiana woman convicted for having an abortion Morgan T. Smith

Appeal for Indiana woman convicted for having an abortion

By: Morgan T. Smith

 

For several weeks, Patel, who lived with her religious, Indian immigrant parents and disabled grandparents, had been texting her friend Fay about cramps and missed periods. "Maybe it was just stress", she said. Her friend knew Patel had been keeping her relationship with a coworker secret from her family. She convinced Patel to take a pregnancy test, which came out positive. “My fam would kill me n him,” Patel texted her friend, according to court filings. “I’m just not ready for it.”

That night at the hospital, she kept texting her friend, which seemed strange to the the medical staff  for a woman in distress. They later described her as having a “flat affect.” Examining her, the obstetrician-gynecologists became alarmed: they saw signs of a far more developed pregnancy, but absolutely no child.  Patel said she had placed the remains of the fetus in a dumpster.

By then, Patel had lost about 20 percent of her blood, and needed surgery for the placenta that she had not yet passed. Shortly before rushing out of the hospital to search for what he believed could be a live baby, one of the doctors called the police.
When Patel woke up from sedation, there was a police officer stationed by her bed. Now, as the first woman in the United States to be convicted of feticide for having an illegal abortion, she faces 20 years in prison. Judges will hear her appeal Monday.