A 33-year-old Bengaluru woman died after taking abortion pills without medical supervision on Tuesday, December 13. Police said that the deceased, Preeti Kushwaha, a sales manager, was not keen on having another child as her son was just 11 months old. Preeti and her husband Devrath Kushwaha, a software engineer, were preparing for their son’s first birthday when they discovered the pregnancy, police said. She asked her husband, Devrath to bring her abortion pills, who suggested that they visit a doctor to get an abortion.
Preeti refused to visit the doctor and on December 12, around 8.30 pm when Devrath was out for a walk, Preeti called him to inform him that she had taken an abortion pill. According to the police, Preeti told Devrath that she was bleeding after taking the pills. She kept refusing to see a doctor, despite Devrath’s insistence. She told him that it was “normal bleeding.”
Devrath then informed Preeti’s brother Navneet about the incident who also insisted she seek medical help but she refused again. On Tuesday, December 14 around 4.45 am, Preeti complained of excessive bleeding and was immediately rushed to Apollo hospital where she was declared brought dead by the doctors.
Based on the complaint lodged by Navneet, the Begur police have registered a case of unnatural death. The police said that the couple was preparing for the first birthday of their child, and Preeti had discovered the pregnancy very recently. DCP (south east) CK Baba told TNM that preliminary investigations did not indicate any foul play. When asked if the woman was suffering from postpartum depression, he said, "We can't ascertain the cause of death until we receive the autopsy report," he said. He also said that the police had not yet verified which abortion pills Preeti had consumed, but they have reached out to the Drug Control Authority (DCA) to examine the medicine sample found at Preeti's house. Viscera samples have been sent to the Forensic Science Laboratory.