asterroc | More news on MA teen (Reply)

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Published: June 03, 2008 12:40 am

Lawrence teen accused of inducing abortion given pretrial probation
By Yadira Betances
Staff Writer

SALEM, Mass. — A Lawrence teenager who allegedly tried to cause her own abortion by taking anti-ulcer pills will have charges dropped against her if she complies with a court-ordered mental health program over the next year.

The case against Ambar Abreu began Jan. 6, 2007 when she went to Lawrence General Hospital complaining of abdominal pain. She later gave birth to a 11/4 pound baby girl at Tufts New England Medical Center. The baby, whom she named Ashley, died four days later.

Abreu, who was believed to have been 25 weeks pregnant, was accused of taking misoprostol pills, an anti-ulcer drug that is also a component of the abortion pill RU-486.

After leaving the hospital, Abreu was arrested at her home and spent three days at Framingham House of Correction, where she was placed under a suicide watch.

She was indicted by an Essex County grand jury on a charge of procuring a miscarriage.

She has been free on $10,000 cash bail, which her family had raised.

Yesterday, Salem District Court Judge David Lowry ordered Abreu to be on pretrial probation until next April and comply with mental health treatment through Health and Education Services of Lawrence, an agency that provides counseling, and that she report to a probation officer every eight weeks.

"Technically, the case is still pending," said Steve O'Connell, spokesperson for the district attorney's office. "The pre-trial probation is intended as a disposition."

The agreement does not require Abreu to admit any wrongdoing and will spare her a record of conviction as long as she complies with the conditions and stays out of further trouble.

If she violates any terms, however, the case will be put back onto the court's docket for trial.

Prosecutor Kate MacDougall and defense lawyer Denise Regan met briefly in the lobby of Salem Superior Court with Lowy yesterday. The judge then accepted the agreement.

Earlier this year public defenders Regan and Carol Cahill asked a Superior Court judge to dismiss the case, arguing that a woman's right to an abortion without government interference has been well established since the famous Roe v. Wade decision in 1973.

Abreu was charged under an 1845 law against procuring a miscarriage, which Regan and Cahill argued could not be enforced because of the Roe v. Wade decision.

In addition to questioning whether the law was still valid, Abreu's lawyers said there were factual errors in the evidence presented to the grand jury provided either by the prosecutor in her questions or by the Lawrence police lieutenant who testified.

They said the first grand jury had been incorrectly told that the use of misoprostol to induce an abortion is illegal, that Abreu did not tell anyone at the hospital that she was pregnant and had taken the pills, that the fetus tested positive for misoprostol (there is no known test for the drug), and that she fled the hospital against the advice of doctors.

Assistant District Attorney Kate MacDougall presented the case again to a new grand jury and received a new indictment on the same charge.

Abreu moved to Lawrence more than two years ago with her mother, Maritza Rosario, and brothers Wilkins and Sain.

In an interview last year, Abreu said she would do things differently if given the chance.

"This is going to haunt me for the rest of my life," Abreu said then. "I pray that one day she (Ashley) can forgive me for making this decision. When I have a family, how am I going to explain to them what happened?"

Reporter Julie Manganis contributed to this report.

So she *is* being tried for "procuring a miscarriage" - which is the same as an abortion, and therefore should be legal under Roe vs. Wade. Why the fsck is this happening in MA of all places?

kadath, where are you and your outrage when we need it?

Edit: As mentioned elsewhere, this sounds like an activist DA with an agenda to overturn Roe v. Wade and willing to lie to a grand jury to do so. I agree w/ you

meig, it's a witch hunt.