US court overturns Indian-origin woman's foeticide conviction

An Indian-origin woman's 2015 foeticide conviction has been overturned by a US court in connection with her botched, self-induced abortion, with legal experts suggesting the landmark verdict couldplay a crucial role in future cases of abortions and foeticide.
The Indiana Court of Appeals on Friday overturned the 20-year prison sentence of Purvi Patel, the Northern Indiana woman.
Ina3-0 ruling, the judges saidthatthe state foeticide statute was not intended to apply to abortions, a report in Indianapolis Star said.
It cited legal experts as saying that-barring a successfulappeal- the decision should give Indiana prosecutors pause before bringing similar chargesagainst pregnant womenin the future.

The report said in its decision, the court relied heavily on how prosecutors have applied the foeticide law in the past, noting that this case was an "abrupt departure" from itstypical cases in which a pregnant woman and her unborn childare the victims of violence.
"The state's about-face in this proceeding is unsettling, as well as untenable" under prior court precedent, Judge TerryCrone said in the ruling.

The ruling however did not clear Patelof any criminalresponsibility and upheld a lower-levelfelony neglect conviction against Patel for failing to provide medical care to the baby, who medical experts testified was alive and breathing after birth.

Patel was arrested when she sought treatment at a local hospital for profuse bleeding after delivering a boy in a bathroom and putting his body in a dumpster behind her family's restaurant.
Court records show she bought abortion-inducing drugs from an online pharmacy.
Patel, who was 32 at the time, used the drugs because she feared her family would discover she had been impregnated by a married man, according to court documents cited in the report.
The report cited experts as saying that the decision
containsthe strongest language yet drawing a legal distinction between illegally performed abortions and feticide.
"If it's not appealed to the SupremeCourt, I think it should give Indiana prosecutors pause before bringing any feticide charges against pregnant women," said Kate Jack, an Indiana-based attorney whoprovides local counsel for the National Advocates for Pregnant Women.

"I'm not willing to say the issue is 100 per centclosed, but I do think it will really give pause."
Abortion rights advocates also cheered the feticide rulingbut said that upholding the felony convictionsenta "mixed message" for womenand threatened to createa "dangerous divide" between doctors and patients.
"The research is clear. If pregnant people fear criminal consequences, they don't go to the doctor," said Shelly Dodson, director of All-Options Pregnancy Resource Center in the report.
"... The state of Indiana is sending a clear messageto anyone who is or might be pregnant that'you don't deserve help, you don't deserve support-you deserve jail.'"

Barring an appeal, the case now returns to a lower court for sentencing on the simple felony neglect charge, which carries a maximum sentence of three years, the report said.