Wisconsin Man Faces Charges in Miscarriages

[BlueIris]

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2007/11/29/national/a111506S97.DTL&tsp=1

[bliss_eternal]

1. Ugh--what a sleaze...!

While I'm glad to see he's being charged of a crime, I am concerned about the anti-choice crowd co-opting this situation for their purposes.

For me, it's not about WHAT he used to drug her--but that he drugged her at all.
I am concerned that anti-choicers jumping on the fact that he used the "morning after pill."

Hope that makes sense.

[smokey nj]

5. This story is creepy on many levels.

[lizerdbits]

2. "Attempted murder of an unborn child"

That's a scary charge, I'm sure made to eventually prosecute abortion providers or any woman exercising her choice.

[ThomCat]

4. If they get away with this

then I expect that they'll absolutely target abortion providers next. And how long until every miscariage is investigated as a possible murder?

But, of course, they'll prosecute selectively. They'll go after poor women, or women on the marginal edge of society first so that it's acceptable to the vast majority of people.

[smokey nj]

6. It's even scarier when you consider that many pregnancies spontaneously abort

without the woman ever realizing she was pregnant. Does that make every sexually active woman of child-bearing age a murder suspect?

[bliss_eternal]

9. Exactly.

:scared:
I don't like that, one bit.

[BlueIris]

3. There are just...so many things wrong with the events reported on in this story.

I feel this man, if he is, in fact, guilty of anything, (it appears he is, but the writing in the story is a bit sketchy to me) should be charged with the appropriate crimes. It just seems, based on the details available via this piece, they're charging him with the wrong things.

And I confess, I posted this mostly because I wanted to see if it raised anyone's b.s. meters. I'm actually hoping this story turns out to be complete fiction or there's a whole bunch of bad info in it because...it just seems so improbable to me.

[WildClarySage]

7. IMHO, this person should have been charged with assault

but since assaulting your girlfriend/wife in the US is not usually seriously punished, they had to charge him with something more heinous. Why is it a more serious charge to cause a miscarriage than it is to assault a woman?

[BlueIris]

8. I can't figure out why he wasn't charged with that either.

But that could be because this story isn't very well written. Not defending what he did, or what the cops did, or condemning his victim here, BUT...I think it's possible we don't have all the facts yet.

[noamnety]

11. I don't understand the charges either

Seems to me giving someone any sort of drugs, legal, prescription, illegal, without their knowledge and especially with intent to harm should be considered poisoning. As for a more serious crime for assaulting women who are pregnant, instead of trying to make it a crime against a fetus, they should list it as a hate crime against women and give it a harsher penalty. If you are assaulting a woman because of her reproductive organs, how is that not a hate crime based on gender?

[ismnotwasm]

10. Update

Man in US abortion case flees to India?

New York: An Indian American accused of secretly feeding his girlfriend an abortion drug has jumped bail in Wisconsin and is suspected to have fled to India, officials said.

Manishkumar M Patel (aka Manish Patel), a 34-year-old married man and resident of Appleton, was charged in December with secretly giving Darshana Patel a drink spiked with RU-486, a drug used to induce abortions, causing the foetus to abort.

http://sify.com/news/fullstory.php?id=14587558

Figures, the chickenshit.

[shenmue]

12. My goodness, this is insane.

Charges? Miscarriage? When did people become crazy?