A Pennsylvania mother is going to prison for providing her daughter with an abortifacient she obtained by mail. Jennifer Ann Whalen's 16-year daughter became pregnant and lacked health insurance to pay for an abortion. Pennsylvania law requires that all abortions be performed by a physician, and Ms. Whalen, a 39 year old single-mother was a nurse's aide, not a physician. The nearest clinic where an abortion procedure could be performed was 74 miles away from their home in rural Washingtonville, PA., in Harrisburg, the state capitol.
Whalen told authorities there was no local clinic available to perform an abortion and her daughter did not have health insurance to cover a hospital abortion, the Press Enterprise newspaper of Bloomsburg reported.
Her daughter experienced severe cramping and bleeding after taking the pills and Whalen took her to a hospital hear her home for treatment, the newspaper said.
The closest abortion clinic to Whalen's home is about 74 miles away in Harrisburg.
The 16 year-old girl (and
apparently two siblings) are now without a mother for the near future. Montour County Judge Gary Norton sentenced Ms. Whalen to
9-18 months in prison, fined her $1000 and ordered her to perform 40 hours of "community service."
Jennifer A. Whalen, 39, of 15 1/2 Water St., previously pleaded guilty to medical consultation judgment involving a non-doctor performing an abortion and unlawful acts related to not being licensed as a pharmacist to distribute drugs to another person.
A "medical consultation judgment" is a
provision in Pennsylvania law that prohibits any abortions unless a doctor agrees it is "necessary." So Whalen was charged for violating this law.
Here is the Judge, who frankly sounds like he's more concerned about the fetus' "interests" than those of the woman's daughter:
Saying the case involved an illegal abortion, Norton said, “What we have here we can argue until the cows come home of the right to an abortion.” The judge said no one has the right to perform an abortion outside the scope of medical procedures. “In some sense, this was practicing medicine without a license,” he said. “A practitioner might be able to perform this, but a lay person is not permitted to take this kind of responsibility which is a huge responsibility,” he said.
Norton said it is a highly regulated procedure because of recognition, at some point, a life is being formed.
“Regardless of our viewpoints, we have to enforce the law as it exists in Pennsylvania. This was somebody taking life and law into their own hands and not to be taken lightly,” he said.
The Pennsylvania law provides for imprisonment up to seven years for anyone but a "physician" to perform an abortion. Interestingly, there appear to be no Pennsylvania statutes criminalizing the performance of other specific medical procedures by non-physicians, or requiring a "medical consultation judgment" before allowing a medical procedure to occur, under penalty of imprisonment.
Almost as terrible is the fact that her attorney had to grovel on her behalf in an effort to reduce her sentence:
Whalen’s attorney Matthew Banks said Whalen, a mother of three, is embarrassed, humiliated, ashamed, remorseful and is taking responsibility for her actions. “She made a decision that was horrible and she understands that,” Banks told Montour County Judge Gary Norton.
This is
not the first time a woman has been
punished for attempting to exercise her so-called "Constitutional rights" to terminate a pregnancy by obtaining abortion pills to do so.
An Indiana woman is now facing between six and 20 years in prison after she ordered an abortion-causing drug from Hong Kong.
After taking the pill to end her unwanted pregnancy, Purvi Patel was bleeding heavily and sought out care at her local hospital.
Shortly thereafter, the 33-year-old was charged with feticide for her at-home abortion.
This case proves exactly what pro-choice groups have been saying for decades--that the legislation passed to restrict a woman's right to terminate her pregancy disproportionately impacts poorer, rural women.