"Stand with Purvi Patel on Monday, May 23, 2016 at 2:00PM EST when she will fight her conviction and 20 year sentence in the Indiana Court of Appeals. Let the state of Indiana know you are watching! You can attend oral arguments at the Indiana Court of Appeals, or stream the oral argument live from the court’s website at 2:00PM EST on Monday, May 23. In July of 2013, Purvi Patel, a 33-year-old Indian-American woman, went to an Indiana emergency room bleeding and seeking help. She explained that she had been pregnant and had disposed of the fetal remains in a trash bin. With assistance from some of Ms. Patel’s own physician, police arrested Ms. Patel who was eventually charged with and convicted of feticide and neglect of a dependent and sentenced to serve 20 years behind bars. Although Indiana has no law permitting punishment of pregnant people who have or attempt to have abortions, prosecutors misused the state’s feticide law -- passed to protect pregnant women from violence to -- instead, re-criminalize abortion and send Ms. Patel to prison. And, because the prosecution did not have any actual evidence that Ms. Patel had a live birth and neglected a newborn, the prosecution focused on her actions and omissions during pregnancy, including her abortion to win a conviction on the neglect of a dependent charge. Ms. Patel has already served more than a year behind bars. NAPW supports Ms. Patel because we believe that there is no point in pregnancy when a woman should lose her civil and human rights. We know that arresting or bringing criminal charges against people for ending a pregnancy, experiencing a miscarriage or stillbirth, or for being pregnant and giving birth, puts all pregnant people at risk. And we know that when we punish women who have sought healthcare, they will stop seeking healthcare, endangering maternal, fetal and child health."
For more on Indiana's infamous approach to reproductive issues see the link below: "GOP attorney general blocks university from saving Alzheimer’s research using fetal tissue Raw story: "Indiana recently passed an abortion restriction law that requires aborted fetal tissue to be buried or cremated — and Indiana University is trying to join the legal opposition because they say it will criminalize their federally-funded research seeking a cure to Alzheimer’s, the Indiana Star reports. But the state’s Republican attorney general, Greg Zoeller, is trying to block the university from joining a lawsuit filed by Planned Parenthood and the American Civil Liberties Union aiming to stop the legislation from going into effect on July 1. “(The law) jeopardizes the personal liberty of IU research scientists who are unable to conform their conduct to the fetal tissue statute’s restrictions,” the university’s motion, obtained by the Star, reads. “(It) exposes IU to tremendous losses of federal NIH-funding, of which IU receives nearly $200 million annually… (and) impairs IU’s standing as a preeminent research institution and discourages prominent researchers from choosing to conduct their research at IU.” Dr. Debomoy Lahiri, a lead scientist at IU’s Stark Neurosciences Research Institute and who is a party to the school’s motion, uses fetal tissue to conduct research on the biochemical differences between Alzheimer’s and autism. The new law would not only block researchers’ efforts but also stop them from acquiring materials needed for it. IU’s motion lays out fears that its scientists could be subject to criminal charges under the new law because the law seeks prosecution of anyone who “intentionally acquires, receives, sells, or transfers fetal tissue.”
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