Donegal man pleads guilty to forced abortion
A man in Donegal, Ireland has pled guilty to forcing his former partner to take abortions pills leading to the death of her unborn child. The incident occurred on February 14, 2020. The man forced her to take 5 misoprostol tablets, threatened her, and locked her in the bedroom.
The man initially pled not guilty and refused to let the Guardia (Irish Police) have access to his phone. Because of a program on his phone, it took the Guardia 4 years to gain access to it. When they finally did, they found search history for at-home abortions and a recording he had made from that day. In it, he was heard saying “It’s either you eat this or I beat that kid out of you tonight. I’m dead serious…I’m forcing you. I don’t care. Take it.” It was only after this evidence came to light that he changed his plea. In November 2025 he pled guilty to two charges: unlawfully ending the life of a fetus and assaulting the woman.
In the sentencing hearing, the woman gave a victim impact statement, saying
When he wrongfully imprisoned me and caused the termination of my nine-week pregnancy, he took far more than my freedom. He took my child. He took my sense of safety. He took a future that I had already begun to plan and love. My baby was real to me. I had hopes, dreams, and a bond with the life that was growing inside me, and all of it was violently stolen from me in a moment of cruelty that I will never forget… I am here today to ensure justice is served and to honor my baby, my truth, and the strength it took to survive this. What happened mattered. My child mattered. And justice matters.
In a letter to his victim, the man said he was “heavily apologizing…The thought of the pain I caused weighed heavily. I am now summoning the strength to face you and say sorry; not because I got caught but because I took away something that can never be replaced.” He added “It was also my child and a hole was also pierced in my heart.”
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