An Australian teenager allegedly threatened to cut his girlfriend’s unborn baby out of her womb and strangle her after she refused to have an abortion this spring.
Border Mail reports Riley Layton Matthews, 18, of West Albury in New South Wales, Australia recently was convicted of assault, damaging property, stalking/intimidation and being armed with the intent to commit an indictable offense.
An Albury Local Court judge gave Matthews a more lenient sentence of community service and good behavior bonds this month after the teen readily admitted his guilt and seemed to be genuinely sorry.
Police said Matthews lashed out in anger on March 19 in the couple’s home when he learned that his girlfriend was pregnant and not willing to abort the baby.
“Throughout the argument, the accused kept telling the victim she had to have an abortion, which she told him she refused to do,” according to police.
Matthews then allegedly threatened to cut the unborn baby out of her womb and grabbed his girlfriend’s wrists, the report states. Matthews claims he threatened to wring the baby’s neck when it was born, not cut the baby out of the womb.
Police said he threw a 1.5 kilogram dumbbell and a serrated knife at his girlfriend, but both missed her. Then, according to police, the girlfriend threw a rope at Matthews, and Matthews tried to strangle her with it.
Here’s more from the report:
He immediately realised the gravity of what he was doing and so promptly stopped, something his solicitor, Shaun Mortimer, said showed his actions were not as serious as what at first might thought to be the case.
… Magistrate Michael Crompton immediately raised his concerns on reading an outline of what happened, commenting before Mr. Mortimer began his sentencing submission that “there’s no doubt there’s some quite concerning” behaviour from Matthews.
Mr Mortimer said what showed the rope incident was not so serious was the fact it was Matthews and not the victim who raised it with police. This suggested a “degree of remorse” and so Matthews “should be given credit for that”.
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Abortion activists would have people believe that an abortion is a woman’s choice, but frequently it is not. LifeNews has reported countless crime stories involving pregnant women who were threatened, assaulted or even killed after they refused to abort their unborn babies.
In the United States, one in six women is first abused during pregnancy, according to the Centers for Disease Control. And pro-life advocates have found that pressure to abort often is coupled with the abuse.
For example, in September 2016, police arrested a Tennessee man after his pregnant girlfriend accused him of kicking and hitting her when she told him that she would not abort their baby. And in December, a Maui man was found guilty of murdering his pregnant ex-girlfriend after he allegedly pressured her to have an abortion.
One study found that as many as 64 percent of post-abortive women say they felt pressured to have an abortion.
Elliot Institute Director David Reardon, who co-authored the Medical Science Monitor study, said, “In many of the cases documented for our ‘Forced Abortion in America’ report, police and witnesses reported that acts of violence and murder took place after the woman refused to abort or because the attacker didn’t want the pregnancy.
“Even if a woman isn’t physically threatened, she often faces intense pressure, abandonment, lack of support, or emotional blackmail if she doesn’t abort. While abortion is often described as a ‘choice,’ women who’ve been there tell a very different story,” Reardon said.
Several studies have linked domestic violence to abortion. In these cases, some women were forced or pressured by partners into having abortions, while others believed having an abortion would help them escape abuse.
