Purvi Patel is a 33-year-old woman who, despite insisting she had a miscarriage, was sentenced to 20 years in prison for neglect of a dependent and feticide. Text messages were found that insinuated she intended to take abortion-inducing drugs, but no drugs of this sort were found in her system.
The state of Indiana has a law banning "feticide," an act that causes the death of a fetus. These conservative laws are meant to "protect" fetuses, but really they hurt real, living women for their pregnancy outcomes and make criminals out of everyday women. Whether Patel had a miscarriage or induced an abortion, a 20-year sentence is absolutely outrageous.
Indiana's feticide law erodes the civil rights of pregnant women -- no one should be thrown in prison for their pregnancy outcome. This woman is losing 20 years of her life. Please sign the petition asking the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate the constitutionality of Indiana's "feticide" law!
