A Kansas man is facing trial for murder after he allegedly obtained abortion-causing drugs on the Internet and secretly fed them to his pregnant girlfriend, who had refused his demands to have an abortion, according to a report.
In a case that is being watched for its implications on abortion, the state of Kansas has charged Scott Robert Bolling, 30, with murder and aggravated battery for buying misoprostol, also known as Cytotec, and feeding it, mixed in pancakes, to his pregnant girlfriend, Naomi Abbott, according to a report from Operation Rescue.
"Ironically, if Bolling had dragged her off to the abortion facility against her will, most likely nothing would have been done to him," said Operation Rescue President Troy Newman.
"This case sadly illustrates the little-discussed problem of women being coerced or forced into abortions by boyfriends or relatives," he said. "Most of the time, these forced abortions take place at abortion clinics where women are not protected from those who are demanding they abort."
TRENDING: Greatest Show on Earth: The Hur report hearing
Newman's organization has been a leading opponent of abortion, repeatedly exposing violations of state standards in clinics and even once, buying a Planned Parenthood facility for its headquarters to prevent it from being used for abortions.
The Kansas charging document states Bolling intentionally killed a "human being … the unborn child."
The case is significant, because the 1973 Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision that permitted abortion at will up to the moment of birth notes that if the "personhood" of the unborn ever is established legally, all of the Constitution's protections for a person would apply, meaning abortion would be a crime.
The state charged: "That on or about Jan. 26, 2014, in Trego County, and state of Kansas, Scott Robert Bolling did, then and there, unlawfully, feloniously, intentionally and with premeditation, kill a human being, to-wit: the unborn child, as defined in K.S.A. 21-5419(a)(2), and amendments thereto, believed to be between 8 to 10 weeks gestation, of Naomi C. Abbott, contrary to and in violation of K.S.A. 21-5402(a)(1), and amendments."
Operation Rescue said Monday a judge has ruled that Bolling's admission that he gave Abbott the drugs "hoping she would have an abortion" will be allowed in court.
Abbott had wanted her baby and had refused Bolling's demands that she have an abortion, the report said.
"That fact qualified this case for the first-degree murder charge," OR said.
Bolling was arrested earlier this year by WaKeeney police and was freed on a $500,000 bond.
Newman said the abortion pill is "far too easy to obtain in this country and it is time for new laws that prohibit the Internet or mail order sale of RU-486 and Cytotec."
"This is the second time a case like this has hit the headlines within weeks and we can only expect more if ... these dangerous abortion-inducing drugs are not immediately banned from sale to anyone with an Internet connection or a postage stamp," he said.
Newman was referring to the case of Florida man John Andrew Walden, who was sentenced in January to 14 years in prison for slipping a woman with whom he was romantically involved the labor-inducing drug Cytotec, which killed her wanted unborn child.
"The Bolling murder case also focuses a laser light on inconsistencies in how we, as a society, view human beings at the earliest stages of development," said Newman. "If the death of Naomi Abbott's baby is murder, then the death of every other baby should be considered murder, too. How one feels about a pre-born baby simply does not magically confer humanity onto the child. Pre-born babies are in fact human beings at an early stage of development and each one deserves the same protections under the law."
Newman pointrd out that what Bolling allegedly did goes on at abortion clinics across America every day.
"Men coerce or force women into abortions they don't want all the time, but because the coercion takes place at an abortion clinic, they get away with it. When it takes place elsewhere, it's murder," said Newman. "If one baby is protected by laws against murder, as in this case, they all should receive equal protection under the law."