Justin Anthony Banta, 26, faces charges of attempted capital murder and tampering with physical evidence in connection with the death of his ex-girlfriend’s unborn child
A man has been charged in connection with the death of his ex-girlfriend’s unborn child and for allegedly tampering with evidence.
According to Parker County Jail records, Texas man Justin Anthony Banta faces charges of attempted capital murder and tampering with physical evidence.
In a press release from the Parker County Sheriff’s Office, officials stated that the U.S. Department of Justice IT worker’s ex-girlfriend accused him of secretly putting abortion-inducing medication, known as “Plan C”, into her drink after unsuccessfully trying to convince her to terminate the pregnancy.
The woman told investigators she and Banta were romantically involved in September when she discovered she was pregnant. Banta allegedly offered to pay for an abortion and suggested ordering Plan C pills online. However, she said she told Banta she intended to keep the baby.
READ MORE: ‘I spent £4,000 on IVF and couldn’t wait to be a mum – then my husband made me get an abortion’
In October, the woman claimed she met Banta at a coffee shop in Tarrant County, where she suspected he had slipped abortion medication into her drink without her consent. The following day, she experienced fatigue and heavy bleeding and sought emergency medical care.
Authorities reported that the woman lost her baby on October 19, and she believes the miscarriage was caused by the medication allegedly administered without her knowledge.
During the investigation, officials seized Banta’s phone, but alleged he remotely accessed the device and initiated a factory reset – erasing potentially critical evidence. Authorities then issued a warrant for his arrest on two felony charges.
Banta was taken into custody last Friday and released the same day after posting bond—$500,000 (£370,537) for the attempted murder charge and $20,000 (£14,818.70) for evidence tampering, according to jail records.
The Parker County Sheriff’s Office said the case remains open and is pending prosecution, reports PEOPLE.
In the UK, a 47-year-old woman who struggled with infertility was left devastated after her husband forced her to get an abortion.
She met her husband whilst studying at university, and started trying for a baby just over a decade ago, after dedicating most of their time to their hotshot careers. Medically referred to as a geriatric pregnancy, women over the age of 35 are more likely to experience complications such as gestational diabetes, high blood pressure, miscarriage, and stillbirth.
Not put off by their decreased odds and increased risk, the couple allegedly spent the next three years planning their social and work lives around the woman’s ‘fertile window each month’ – but still couldn’t get pregnant. In fact, doctors were believed to have said the couple had less than a five per cent chance of falling pregnant.
“Even if we tried IVF using my eggs, that number was pushed up to just 9 per cent,” the woman said, according to MailOnline. However, the couple were unable to access IVF on the NHS and were told using an egg donor would significantly increase their chances of having a baby. The woman claims she found a clinic in Ukraine that had ‘no waiting lists for eggs’ and could ensure the donor remained anonymous. She says it costs £4,000 including her flights, accommodation and medical treatment – a huge saving compared to UK facilities.
“Two weeks later I took a test and, marvellously, it was positive. I was over the moon,” the woman said. “But when I told [my husband] he seemed oddly withdrawn. I put it down to him working long hours and carried on getting excited, planning who to tell first.”
However, the excitement soon faded after the woman’s eight-week scan when her husband allegedly dropped a huge bombshell. He allegedly said he was unsure if he could ‘bond’ with a child that isn’t biologically both of them and said the anonymity of the egg donor made his ‘skin crawl’.
Then, the husband gave his wife the biggest ultimatum: keep the baby and we’ll split. “While I wanted to be a mum, more than that I didn’t want to live the rest of my life without him,” she said.
“I knew perfectly well we’d be over if I carried on. The prospect of bringing up a child on my own seemed bleak.
“How would I do it? I’ve seen so many friends struggle as lone parents, hand on heart I couldn’t knowingly do that to myself or my future child. And then there was the most dreaded thought: what if he left me for someone else and had children with her? It was as though a gun were being held to my head.”
A week later the woman says she terminated the pregnancy without her husband by her side, before taking a week off work to visit her mum in Spain. When she came home, the couple – who are still together – requested the remaining embryos in storage to be destroyed.
If you’re struggling with the themes mentioned in this story, help and support is available. You can get help and support here or find out more about fertility problems here.