Man charged with first-degree murder for tricking girlfriend into taking abortion pills

There are nearly 91 abortion providers in the state of Florida. Had any one of them killed Remee Lee’s unborn baby, it would have been business as usual. There would be no notice, no attention would be paid to the abortion, and it would be completely legal.

But Lee’s unborn baby was not killed in a clinic. Rather, the six-week-old unborn baby died when Andrew Welden, the baby’s father, tricked Lee into taking Cyotec, an ulcer drug that can be used to induce labor or cause abortions. Cyotec is often given with RU-486 as part of a chemical abortion. Now, Welden is being charged with first-degree murder.

Welden was Lee’s boyfriend, and she was deeply in love. According to Lee, “[h]e was my everything and more.”

When Lee went to see an obstetrician, who happened to be Welden’s father, she found out she was pregnant. The ultrasound showed a six-week-old baby. By six weeks, the baby’s heart is beating, and limbs are forming. To see a video of a 5- to 6-week-old baby’s heart beating, go here.

Lee was overjoyed at being pregnant. “Everyone dreams of becoming a mom. This was my chance,” she said.

Lee had no reason to suspect that Welden would hurt her or the baby, so she believed him when he told her that the blood tests she had done at the OB/GYN’s office showed an infection. (In reality, Lee and her baby were perfectly healthy.)

When Welden presented Lee with what appeared to be a bottle of Amoxicillin (a common and harmless antibiotic), she agree to take the drug as he instructed. In reality, the pills were Cytotec.

Welden had replaced the Amoxicillin pills with this dangerous drug and, according to police, even filed each pill to remove any markings.

Lee took the drug and began bleeding heavily and cramping. She went to the doctor and was told that her baby no longer had a heartbeat.

Welden is being charged in the death of the unborn baby, a first-degree murder charge. It is unknown where he acquired the drug. One may speculate that he got it through his OB/GYN father, but this has not been determined. There is also a possibility that he got the drug online. (Yes, this site is offering abortion pills through the mail.)

In 2008 (the latest year statistics are available for), there were over 94,000 abortions in Florida. Thirty-six percent of abortions were performed after the eighth week, on babies two weeks older than the baby killed in this case. Every one of those 94,000 abortions was done as a matter of routine.

No one will ever be prosecuted for killing those babies. There will be no story in the media about any of them. Their killings were simply “business as usual.”

This case more than any other shows the strange inconsistency in American laws dealing with unborn children. The contradiction in allowing doctors to legally kill babies whom nearly anyone else would face a first-degree murder charge for killing seems to fly in the face of reason.

It is my hope that one day, all deliberate killings of unborn children will be considered cases of murder.