Prosecutors: Text messages detail weeks leading up to Patel's forced abortion

wsbt.com ^ | Jan 26, 2015 | Kelli Stopczynski

[Morgana]

ST. JOSEPH COUNTY -

Text messages from a Granger woman’s cell phone will likely play a big role in her feticide and neglect trial.

n opening statements Monday, a deputy prosecuting attorney detailed for the jury Purvi Patel’s text messages exchanged with a friend before, during and after police say the then 32-year-old forced her body to have an abortion before putting her newborn in a dumpster.

Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Aimee Herring said Patel began texting her friend about her condition in April 2013 about an irregular menstrual cycle and cramping. The friend urged Patel to see a doctor, Herring said, but she did not.

The texts apparently continued through May and into June, when Herring said Patel took a pregnancy test that was positive.

On June 10, Patel text messaged her friend about ordering abortion pills from an “international pharmacy,” and when the friend asked Patel three more times to see a doctor, she replied, “I’d rather not even go to a doc. I just want to get this over with,” Herring said.

According to text messages, the pills arrived at Moe’s Southwest Grill in Mishawaka – a restaurant Patel’s family owns – in early July. But Patel waited to take those pills until July 10, continuing to provide a detailed account of her situation to her friend, Herring told the jury.

[Morgana]

Honestly with Roe vs Wade I don't see how they can find her guilty. Who knows, if they do that is a chip against Roe.

[definitelynotaliberal]

I don’t understand it, either. I’m surprised to see the word ‘feticide’, although that is inarguably what an abortion is.

[ModelBreaker]

If it’s OK for planned parenthood, why isn’t it OK for her to use pills to kill her baby? I guess if everyone just killed their own babies instead of relying on planned parenthood, then the money would dry up.