When you’re a historian specializing in early modern European history, it’s not often that your area of expertise is relevant to modern politics—and when it is, the situation is rarely good.
In February, 33-year-old Indiana resident Purvi Patel was found guilty of both feticide and child neglect after delivering a 24-week-old stillborn child at home and disposing of the body in a dumpster—an act that was discovered after she went to the hospital, bleeding, and the doctor discovered an umbilical cord.
Despite requests to strike it down, a northern Indiana judge has allowed a feticide charge to stand against Purvi Patel, a woman who had taken measures to abort her fetus and underwent a premature delivery.
