Dutch woman charged with murder after having abortion in Spain when 27 weeks pregnant

[Honey]

A Dutch woman is being prosecuted for murdering her unborn child in an unprecedented case after she travelled to Spain for an abortion when she was already 27 weeks pregnant.


Today a judge rejected the 24-year-old woman's request for an injunction ordering an end to the Dutch murder probe, her lawyer Gerard Spong said.
Spong believes his client has done nothing wrong because Spain has a provision in its abortion legislation that allows late-term abortions, "if there is a psychological need for it," he said in a telephone interview.
"My view was and is that as long as Spanish judicial authorities do not make any decision that this woman has committed an offense ... the Dutch judicial authorities should abstain (from investigating)," he added. Scroll down for more ...

File photo: A Dutch woman is being prosecuted for having an abortion at 27 weeks

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Abortion is legal in the Netherlands up to the 24th week of pregnancy and it is extremely rare for Dutch authorities to file murder charges linked to such a procedure. The fact that the woman is being prosecuted for an abortion carried out overseas makes the case unprecedented.
The woman, whose name has not been released, was 27 weeks pregnant when she had an abortion at the Ginemedex clinic in Barcelona, prosecutors say. She had previously visited a Dutch abortion clinic but was told she could not have the procedure there because her pregnancy was too far advanced.
Prosecutors allege a receptionist at the Dutch clinic then gave the woman a card for the Barcelona facility.
Dutch police launched an investigation in November after the woman's boyfriend told them he did not believe her explanation that she had given birth to a dead fetus at a Dutch hospital.
There have been reports that the woman, who has a Moroccan background, may have been pushed into having an abortion by her family, but Spong rejected them.
"Her family has nothing to do with it," Spong said. "My client is an adult woman of 24 years old who made her own decision."
The Dutch investigation is not linked to the arrests last year of six people during police raids on abortion clinics in Spain. That investigation followed a complaint by an anti-abortion group called E-Cristians, said an official of Spain's Civil Guard.
That complaint was filed a year ago after Danish television broadcast a documentary in which the gynecologist who runs the four raided clinics, Dr. Carlos Morin, was filmed offering to perform an abortion on a female journalist posing as being nearly seven months pregnant, said Pablo Molins, a lawyer for E-Cristians. Spain sets no upper limit on how far into a pregnancy a woman can have an abortion in cases where having the baby could cause her physical or psychological damage. This must be certified by a doctor other than the one who would carry out the abortion.

Dutch woman charged with murder after having abortion in Spain when 27 weeks pregnant | the Daily Mail

[KrisNine]

Huh, you would think she would have made her mind up by 27 weeks. Still, I don't know why the Dutch law would be able to prosecute her for this...especially if the abortion was done in Spain.

[Just Kill Me]

I would think she would have made her mind up by that time as well... I just don't understand why anyone does anything they do anymore... at least she didn't have a child... this could have become another dead infant on the side of the road... ugh... this world is so fucked.

[JerriBlank]

it sounds to me like she was being pressured into keeping it. or else she probably wouldn't have lied about giving birth to a dead fetus. maybe that's why the delay?

[msdeb]

what on earth? that baby could have been viable. jesus.

[Chilly Willy]

The Spanish are funny people. On the one hand, they are strict Catholics, on the other hand they do those late abortions everywhere.

I sw the Danish report - it's shocking. Basically, the babies could live on their own.

[yanna]

It took her 6+ fucking months to decide she didn't want the baby? What a stupid cunt!

[Aella]

This is such bullshit. She had the abortion in Spain! And regardless of how late it was and everyone's personnal feelings on the subject, the point is that she didn't break any laws inside her country!

[sputnik]

^^^^
good point. on the other hand, she was within the EU... i need to find a lawyer specialised in EU law.

[buttmunch]

But Holland is going right in it's politics and this is the result I guess.

[sputnik]

^^^
yep. if i remember correctly, they didn't even have a legal time limit for abortions, though traditionally they stopped at 20 weeks. but since they voted to the right, the new government is trying to undo a lot of the social progress that the leftie governments had made through the decades.

[Dixie Normos]

Originally Posted by yanna

It took her 6+ fucking months to decide she didn't want the baby? What a stupid cunt!

Which would make her poor mother material in my eyes.

[yanna]

^ Good point but since she was forced to keep it anyway she should give it up for adoption. But she found a loophole and got rid of it. Nice job.

Yes, intellectually, I agree that since this was legal in Spain and she's a European citizen she shouldn't be punished but I still think she's an evil, stupid cunt for doing this.

[qwerty]

I surprised a "strong arm" law would apply here? Prior to Roe v Wade, women would fly outside of the country to get a legal abortion elsewhere. What's different about this?

[KrisNine]

Don't get me wrong, I don't think that she should be punished in her own country for doing something that was legal in another. I think she's a cow for waiting so long.