British Man Gets Three Years in Prison for Forcing Wife to Have Abortion 
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by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
February 29, 2008
London, England (LifeNews.com) — A British businessman from Hendon is headed to prison for three years for forcing his pregnant wife to have an abortion. Gil Magira, 35, had pleaded guilty to purchasing drugs from the Internet and putting them in his partner’s sandwich to cause her to have an abortion.
Magira has already served nine months in prison during the trial and had that time discounted from a three year, nine month prison term.
According to the Hendon Times, Magira’s attorney Jonathan Goldberg said he should receive a lesser punishment or none at all because Magira suffers from obsessive compulsive disorder.
Goldberg cited numerous problems Magira has encountered because of the problem and put several people on the stand to testify on his behalf.
However, the newspaper reported that prosecuting attorneys said that shouldn’t mitigate the forced abortion and the sentence necessary because of the crime.
"Mr Magira committed an appalling and selfish act which fortunately did not have the tragic consequence he was looking for," prosecutors said.
"The circumstances around this case are unique and we believe this is the first time we have prosecuted a father for trying to terminate his wife’s pregnancy in this way," they added.
The incident occurred last February and there was no word on whether the abortion killed the baby or harmed Magira’s wife.
The conviction comes after an appeals court in Sweden has sentenced a man to 18 months in prison for forcing his girlfriend to have an abortion by spiking her drink. The 27-year-old man mixed abortion pills in the woman’s food in an attempt to make her have a miscarriage of his child.
In the United States, 34-year-old Manish Patel stands accused of spiking his girlfriend’s drink with a dangerous abortion drug to cause her baby to die.
Patel has allegedly fled the country to his native India to avoid prosecution and he has forfeited a $750,000 cash bond he posted in December with the help of friends and family.
A hearing is scheduled in March to determine if they should receive their money or if some of it should be awarded to the victim, Darshana Patel, Manish’s 39 year-old girlfriend who is unrelated to him.
Manish Patel has been charged with attempted first-degree homicide of an unborn child, six other felonies and two misdemeanors. He is accused of obtaining the dangerous RU 486 abortion drug from India and putting it in Darshana’s drink.
Darshana never drank the concoction but turned it over to authorities after suspecting foul play. Tests revealed the presence of the mifepristone abortion drug.
