Pregnant woman jailed for having thought about abortion

Pregnant woman jailed for having thought about abortion It is heard to believe, yet a true story. A pregnant woman in Iowa (USA) had been jailed for "attempted feticide" because she told hospital staff that she once thought about having an abortion.


A most shocking tale can be found at the website about Women's Rights by the organization of change.org. The story was also carried by Nerve and pointed to by Harper's Magazine on February 16.

Apparently, in Iowa it can be regarded as a crime - in this case attempted feticide - if a pregnant woman gets unwell and falls down the stairs. In any case, it may be regarded as a possible crime if this happens a few months after she considered to opt for abortion, or for carrying the baby and giving birth to it. She decided for the latter and stayed away from abortion clinics. However, her dreadful thoughts (about abortion) in the past weighed more heavily in this case than her actions (to keep the baby).

The simple fact of this weird tale are as follows.

In the beginning of her pregnancy, the woman had considered abortion but decided against it. After a meeting (and a row) with her estranged husband she became unwell and fell down the stairs. Medics in the hospital told her the child she was carrying was fine. She was elated by hearing this, and said so - mentioning that she had previously thought of terminating the pregnancy. Soon after, she found herself in jail because someone very zealous had interpreted her falling accident as an attempt to "intentionally terminate a human pregnancy" - which is the legal definition of feticide.

The whole incident would be almost funny if it wasn't so dead serious.