Fla. man tricked pregnant girlfriend into taking abortion drug, feds say

Fla. man tricked pregnant girlfriend into taking abortion drug, feds say

By Tracy Connor, Staff Writer, NBC News

The label on the bottle said it contained a common antibiotic, but prosecutors say inside was a drug that's often used to induce abortions.

Remee Jo Lee, 26, was six weeks pregnant when her boyfriend gave her a pill he said was prescribed by his father, a Florida fertility doctor, to treat a bacterial infection, according to court papers.

Lee says she trustingly swallowed the pill, and within hours started bleeding. She went to the hospital, where she had a miscarriage and learned that her boyfriend had tricked her into terminating her pregnancy, her lawyer alleges.

Now the ex-boyfriend, John Andrew Welden, 28, is in county lockup, facing a civil lawsuit and a murder rap.

A federal indictment unsealed Thursday charged Welden with product-tampering and first-degree murder under the Unborn Victims of Violence Act, charges that could carry a life sentence.


Courtesy of Gil Sanchez

Remee Jo Lee says her boyfriend tricked her into taking an abortion pill and she miscarried at six weeks.

The lawyer who represented him at an initial appearance Wednesday did not return a phone call but said in court that the allegations were out of character for his client, according to The Associated Press.

In a civil complaint and statement, Lee's attorney described how an eight-month romance turned toxic when his client became pregnant in February.

Lee "was anticipating motherhood with great joy and excitement," but Welden begged her not to go through with it, lawyer Gil Sanchez said in a press release.

"Everyone dreams of becoming a mom. This was my chance," Lee told told Tampa's WFTS-TV.

In late March, Welden took Lee to his father's Lutz, Fla., clinic for a prenatal examination, including a sonogram and blood and urine samples that confirmed a healthy pregnancy, Lee's lawsuit says.

The next day, Welden told Lee that his father had diagnosed her with an infection and prescribed Amoxicillin, the antibiotic, the suit charges.

In reality, the doctor's son had forged a prescription for Cytotec, an ulcer drug that can be used for non-surgical abortions because it causes contractions, Lee's lawyer said.

"He came to my house with the pills, his weapon of choice," Lee told WFTS.

"He told me to keep taking them. I was supposed to take three a day for days."

Welden later admitted to Lee that he had fooled her, the suit claims. It describes his actions as "outrageous, beyond the bounds of decency and utterly intolerable."

The suit seeks unspecified damages in excess of $15,000.

"We may soon be seeking redress for Lee against others who may have some degree of liability for this heinous act," Sanchez said, without identifying anyone.

Welden, who worked at his father's clinic but was not a doctor, is the only person charged with a crime. Workers at the clinic declined to comment.

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This story speaks to a greater social problem and its causes that takes its toll on everyone.
Poverty:
        Unplanned Pregnancy
        Gender neutral, equal rights in family planning.
        The sexism and cruelty toward men and their much needed, still missing, right to choose parenthood.

Why should women alone decide to have a child, regardless of the wishes or consent of the paternal father who procreated, albeit accidentally, or through some deceptive maternal means?  To ad insult to injury, the DNA suspected man who matches the fetus gets the bill for 18 years.  No signature necessary.

This story only barely hints to any fair and equitable discussion between the couple in question.  What decent woman would bring a child into this world without a plan that matched her committed partner's plan for a family.  She knew this young man didn't want to become a father YET.  Regardless of his wishes, she was holding him hostage.  Situations like these call for drastic changes in our overall lax attitude concerning wanton, careless, unplanned reproductive choices.  Prior to a full term pregnancy, a couple must both be in agreement to become parents and have a plan, a stable home and long term resources to provide for the future child.

This story is a sad example of our illogical, archaic, impractical procreation policies.