A Brooklyn, New York man has been sentenced to up to 32 years in prison after a court found him guilty of attacking his pregnant girlfriend and killing their unborn child, according to The Daily Mail.
Torey Branch, 35, reportedly pressured his pregnant girlfriend, Mia Jones, 35, to have an abortion but took matters into his own hands when she refused. LifeNews previously reported that Branch attacked Jones in March 2014 a few days after doing an online search for ways to kill their unborn baby himself.
On Tuesday, a Brooklyn judge sentenced Branch to 25 years in prison for first-degree burglary, up to seven years for first-degree abortion and one year for third-degree assault, according to the news report. A jury found him guilty of those charges last month, the report states.
Brooklyn District Attorney Ken Thompson condemned Branch for the brutal attack on Jones and her seven-month unborn daughter, who died as a result.
“Torey Branch deserves to spend every day of the next 27 years locked away in a prison cell for his cowardly, brutal and simply inhumane attack on a pregnant woman that caused the victim to suffer horrific injuries, left her unconscious and needing two blood transfusions – all because he did not want her to have their baby,” Thompson said.
A few days before the attack, police said Branch searched for the phrases “Can being hit in the stomach cause a miscarriage?” and “What happens if a pregnant woman gets hit in the stomach?” He also deleted his text messages with Jones a few days before the attack, according to police.
On March 28, 2014, Jones was going home from a doctor’s appointment when police said Branch and another masked man beat her in the hallway of her apartment building in Brooklyn. Jones was seven months pregnant with her unborn daughter.
Click here to sign up for pro-life news alerts from LifeNews.com
According to the New York Daily News, the attackers grabbed Jones from behind and kicked and punched her repeatedly in the face and stomach. The attack led to the death of her unborn daughter, who Jones named Kennedy, the report states.
Jones underwent an emergency C-section to remove her dead unborn daughter. She also had two fractured eyes and needed two blood transfusions and stitches after the attack, according to the report.
“I just wanted to hold her. I wanted her to breathe and wake up. She was lifeless so was so innocent and beautiful. I loved her with all my life,” Jones said during Branch’s trial.
Stories of forced abortions are more common than abortion advocates would like people to think. In November, LifeNews reported the story of another New York man, Josh Woodward, who was convicted of attempted murder after he secretly gave his pregnant girlfriend an abortion drug that caused the death of their 13-week unborn child. Woodward’s girlfriend said she refused to abort their unborn baby, even though he was constantly pressuring her.
As LifeNews previously reported, one study found that as many as 64 percent of post-abortive women say they felt pressure 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.
