A Tampa-area man who admitted to tricking his girlfriend into taking abortion pills and killing their child now faces first-degree murder charges, according to WPTV.com.
The suspect, John Andrew Welden, switched his girlfriend’s Amoxicillin with abortion pills and scratched off the pills’ identifiers.
Welden gave the pills to his then-girlfriend, Remee Lee, to treat her for bacterial infection. On Easter Sunday, the woman went to a hospital after complaining of severe cramping and vaginal bleeding. Doctors then confirmed that her pills were abortion inducers, not Amoxicillin.
Lee had intended to bring the baby to full-term, despite her boyfriend’s protests, according to WPTV.
“Everyone dreams of becoming a mom. This was my chance,” Lee told the South Florida NBC affiliate.
Welden’s father is a board certified obstetrician and gynecologist. Welden allegedly forged his father’s signature on a prescription for a drug called Cytotec, reports the Tampa Bay Times. Federal prosecutors say Welden then put an “Amoxicillin” label on a pill bottle containing the drug. He advised Lee that his father, the doctor, wanted to put her on antibiotics.
Prosecutors did not disclose the duration of Lee’s pregnancy.