Judge denies anonymity for victim of forced abortion

A woman forced into an abortion by an Ohio doctor has had her right to anonymity stripped by a judge, who ruled she must be named in a civil lawsuit.

Key Takeaways:

• Dr. Hassan-James Abbas has been indicted on six felony charges after he allegedly ordered abortion pills illegally and forced the pills into a woman's mouth.

• The woman, who was pregnant, lost her preborn child as a result.

• Abbas had previously treated the woman with anti-nausea medication, meaning she was a patient of his. The Ohio Medical Board suspended Abbas's medical license as a result.

• The victim has filed a civil lawsuit against Abbas and his father, as well as ProMedica Toledo Hospital and ProMedica’s Jobst Vascular Institute for the loss of her child.

The Backstory:

According to previous reports, Abbas established a doctor-patient relationship with the victim after he prescribed her anti-nausea medication. In October of 2024, the patient and Abbas, a married man, began a romantic relationship, although he and his wife were reportedly separated. At the time, Abbas was a surgical resident at the University of Toledo Medical Center.

By December, the woman found out she was pregnant with Abbas' child. "I just told him that I took a test. I sent him a picture of it, you know, I was happy to talk to him about it and have a conversation. He called me on the phone and was screaming at me, just erratic behavior that I have never seen before," she said.

When she visited his home, he offered her multiple drinks, which she said was unusual. After falling asleep, she woke up to find him on top of her with his fingers in her mouth, and felt a powder in her mouth. She tried calling 911 for help, but Abbas took the phone and hung up.

"I lay there and I went back and forth on if he was gonna kill me, you know. That was my biggest thought was that he was going to kill me," she said. Eventually, she was able to drive herself to the hospital, but her preborn baby did not survive.

Abbas has been indicted on six felony charges, including abduction, unlawful distribution of an abortion-inducing drug, disrupting public services, deception to obtain a dangerous drug, identity fraud, and tampering with evidence.

The Details:

According to the Toledo Blade, the woman filed a civil lawsuit under the name Jane Doe against Abbas and his father, Jihad Abbas, in whose home Abbas lived. The woman said she did not know Abbas was married. Her lawsuit alleged medical malpractice, assault, battery, and conspiracy against both Hassan and Jihad Abbas, false imprisonment against Hassan Abbas, and negligent retention against ProMedica. Her lawsuit said ProMedica “knew or should have known” of the Abbases’ “criminal and civil acts and wrongdoings” and maintained their employment anyway, which then “was the proximate cause of Plaintiff’s serious emotional distress, great pain of mind and body, shock, embarrassment, loss of enjoyment of life, etc.”

The woman is seeking $25,000 in damages for emotional distress and the wrongful death of her preborn child. Her lawyer, Kelle Saull, requested anonymity as the woman “was a victim of sexual assault, abduction, violence, and the result was the loss of her unborn child at the hand of a local physician and his father.” Saull also said her client fears harassment, both in person and online, though lawyers for the Abbases said there was no evidence of any potential harassment.

Yet one of the lawyers, Pete Nost, even went so far as to deny that the woman was ever even pregnant, saying the indictment against him did not include any reference to the death of a preborn child.

Judge Lindsay Navarre denied her request to remain anonymous and gave her 10 days to refile her lawsuit using her legal name.

The Bottom Line:

Allowing abortion pills to be sent freely through the mail is exactly why this case is happening. And as long as abortion pills continue to be so easily accessible, more women will be victimized as this woman was.