This is a true story from a country in Europe, a country one would normally deem civilized.

A foreign woman (nation of birth unspecified) arrives in the European country, seeking asylum. Having been raped in her native land, she discovers after her immigration that she’s eight weeks pregnant. Wanting an abortion—being pregnant and unmarried would, she said, be a “great shame” in her culture—she discovers that her new country largely prohibits abortion except in cases when the pregnancy will cause the mother’s death. Those cases can include both the mother’s potential suicide or a condition of pregnancy that could endanger her life, but do not include rape, incest, or fetal deformity.

Scared about the shame that her pregnancy would bring upon her, the woman becomes suicidal, and, soon, after discovering her pregnancy, presents herself at the hospital requesting an abortion. She spends several weeks in the hospital being assessed by doctors and psychiatrists, for, according to law, obtaining a lawful abortion due to suicidality requires unanimous approval of a panel of two psychiatrists and an obstetrician.

The panel is convened. The psychiatrists concur that an abortion is warranted, but the obstetrician, while agreeing with the danger of suicide, doesn’t agree with the abortion, and it’s called off. By this time the woman is 21-23 weeks into her pregnancy.

In protest, she goes on a hunger strike, intending to kill herself through starvation or dehydration. The state straps the woman to a bed and forcibly hydrates her through a nasogastric tube. This is meant to keep her and the fetus alive until a viable baby can be removed via a Caesarian section.