"Patel is the second woman to
be charged with feticide in the US, but the first to receive a prison
sentence. She was prosecuted under state laws that are otherwise
intended at targeting illegal abortion providers and prosecuting crimes
against pregnant women, Al Jazeera reports. Women’s rights
activists have condemned her conviction and the subsequent sentence.
They say the law is being used to prosecute women who miscarry, have
stillbirths or try to terminate their own pregnancies. The
British Pregnancy Advisory Service described Patel’s case as “tragic”
and warned it could set a dangerous precedent for other pregnant women.
A spokesperson told
The Independent: “Purvi Patel is sadly the latest victim of the creeping criminalisation of pregnant women’s behaviour in America. “These
‘feticide’ laws are being used to punish the pregnant women they
purport to protect, and will only discourage those who need medical care
from seeking help, putting women and their babies at greater risk. “What
we are seeing in the US should serve as a warning to those who support
reproductive rights in the UK. Ending a pregnancy remains a criminal
offence in British law that carries a potential twelve-year prison term
if the grounds of the 1967 Abortion Act are not met. “This means
that a woman who buys abortion pills online could be incarcerated. Women
need access to high quality reproductive healthcare services and
support. In the 21st century, their personal decisions about whether to
continue or end a pregnancy do not belong in the criminal law.” Lynn
Paltrow. the executive director of the National Advocates for Pregnant
Women (NAPW), said she was deelpy disappointed by the outcome. "While no
woman should face criminal charges for having an abortion or
experiencing a pregnancy loss, the cruel length of this sentence
confirms that feticide and other measures promoted by anti-abortion
organizations are intended to punish not protect women.""
