Abortion Smoothie

Wisconsin authorities have charged a man with slipping his (extramarital) girlfriend an abortion drug that caused her to miscarry twice. 34-year-old Manishkumar Patel was charged with seven felonies and two misdemeanors, including attempted first-degree murder of an unborn child, stalking, burglary and two counts of violating a restraining order.

Patel and his girlfriend Darshana already had a 3-year-old child out of wedlock together when she became pregnant last year. She miscarried that child last December, but otherwise had no unusual concerns. She become pregnant a second time last summer, and Patel took her to an ice cream shop for a smoothie in late August. After drinking the smoothie, Darshana noticed white powder on the rim. She then became suspicious, and feigning illness, took the drink back to her office.

Suspecting she had been slipped mifespristone (the abortion pill also known as RU-486), Darshana (a practicing physician) sent a sample of the smoothie to a California lab for analysis. Darshana's suspicions were confirmed when she miscarried a second time just a few weeks later. When the tests came back positive for the drug, she approached the sheriff’s department-- who arrested Manishkumar Patel after an initial investigation.

According to the MSNBC report, Patel is being held on $750,000 bail after prosecutor Mark Schroeder said he had a net worth of $400,000 and investigators found evidence he had been looking at flights to Germany. “The allegations are devious, diabolical and disturbing,” Court Commissioner Brian Figy said. “Extraordinary cases deserve extraordinary care.”

Wisconsin is one of 37 states with a fetal homicide law, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Under the 1998 law, anyone who attacks a pregnant woman and injures or kills her fetus could face life in prison.