The Tampa man accused of secretly feeding abortion pills to his pregnant lover is trying to get released from jail on bail.
John Welden, 28, is the son of a prominent Lutz fertility doctor. He's facing federal charges of killing an unborn child by tricking his pregnant girlfriend into taking a labor-inducing drug.
Investigators say Welden forged his father's signature to get a prescription for Cyotec, a drug used to induce early labor and sometimes abort fetuses. Welden is accused of telling her girlfriend it was an antibiotic.
According to the Tampa Bay Times, Welden's friends and family have offered more than $1 million in collateral if a judge will grant him bond. U.S. Magistrate Judge Anthony Porcelli denied him bail last month, saying the seriousness of the charges made Welden a flight risk.
The motion filed in court also hits at the defense strategy Welden's attorneys may use. They pointed to a lack of legal guidelines covering the 2004 Unborn Victims of Violence Act.
Welden's case marks only the third known time that federal law has been invoked by authorities.
Another of Welden's girlfriends is vouching for his character in hopes of getting him set free. Tara Fillinger wrote the judge saying she has dated Welden for the majority of the last seven years and that the pair had been talking about marriage.
Welden has been jailed in Pinellas County for a few weeks.