Robert Kawada, Brookline, Massachusetts man tricks pregnant girlfriend to take abortion pills he claimed were iron pills and vitamin pills. Incriminating web searches also implicate the man.
He didn’t want the baby… and that’s when he hatched his plan.
A Massachusetts man has been charged with secretly giving his girlfriend an abortion pill which he presented as iron pills to the unwitting woman to end her pregnancy.
Robert Kawada, 43, of Brookline, pleaded not guilty at his arraignment on several charges Tuesday afternoon in Waltham District Court. He was ordered held on $100,000 bail.
Boyfriend misrepresented himself to girlfriend
According to Watertown Police, the two met on a dating app in January and were together for a couple months. After Kawada broke up with the woman in March, the un-identified victim told Kawada that she was pregnant.
Kawada claimed to have knowledge about pregnancies because his ex-wife had a child, and his father was an OB-GYN. Once, Kawada gave her homemade raspberry leaf cookies, which are believed to induce labor and considered dangerous to eat during the first trimester because it could cause a miscarriage, police wrote according to NBC Boston.
Prosecutors said Kawada intentionally gave his girlfriend medication to end the pregnancy earlier this month. Watertown Police arrested him Friday, CBS News reported.
‘He would provide the victim with pills that he informed her were iron pills or other vitamins,’ prosecutor Jacob McCrindle said at the arraignment. ‘The defendant would also check the victim’s mouth by pulling on the victim’s cheek to make sure she had consumed the pills.’
The pills, McCrindle said, were consistent with Misoprostol, one of two controversial abortion drugs at the center of a case before the U.S. Supreme Court. They’re available in Massachusetts through prescription, and prosecutors say Kawada’s phone showed a call to an online pharmacy that sells it.
Incriminating web searches
Police say he even orchestrated a fake call from a nurse saying because of the woman’s blood levels, she really should take iron pills. Then he happened to have some, said police, which he gave to her.
‘She was cold, shivering and she felt very uneasy. She went to sleep and woke up had very bad cramps,’ said McCrindle.
When she had a miscarriage, prosecutors say Kawada asked her to send pictures. Court documents show his cell phone search at the time included ‘9-week aborted fetus pics’ and ‘telephone voice changer’ and ‘chewing Misprostol.’
Misoprostol is a medicine used ‘for a variety of indications in the practice of obstetrics and gynecology, including medication abortion,’ according to the National Library of Medicine. It’s combined with the drug Mifepristone to induce an abortion in the first trimester of pregnancy. The medication abortion accounts for more than half of all abortions in the United States.
Asked about the case after Kawada’s court appearance, his lawyer, Dmitry Lev, said, ‘We look forward to a full and complete investigation and a fair trial in front of our jury.’
Kawada is facing several charges, including poisoning, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon on a pregnant person and assault and battery on a household or family member.
Kawada is due back in court July 23 for a probable cause hearing.
