{"id":286004,"date":"2023-02-27T06:42:20","date_gmt":"2023-02-27T12:42:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=286004"},"modified":"2023-02-24T17:29:13","modified_gmt":"2023-02-24T23:29:13","slug":"father-murdered-newborn-mother-refused-abortion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/father-murdered-newborn-mother-refused-abortion\/","title":{"rendered":"Father on trial for murder of newborn after mother refused an abortion"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;\" class=\"sharethis-inline-share-buttons\" ><\/div><p>A North Carolina man is accused of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gastongazette.com\/story\/news\/crime\/2023\/02\/22\/man-accused-of-babys-murder-didnt-want-children-mother-says\/69924114007\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">murdering<\/a> one of his newborn children after the mother refused an abortion.\u00a0Robert Middleton is currently facing <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsoctv.com\/news\/local\/gastonia-man-charged-with-murder-death-infant-son\/4LJXZN7R6RGCVGXJ3RA3KJGB3M\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">first-degree murder charges<\/a>, as well as charges of child abuse. The baby was just seven weeks old.<\/p>\n<p>Takaylia Young, the mother of the children, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsoctv.com\/news\/local\/trial-begins-father-gastonia-accused-killing-7-week-old-son\/M3NEAW34ARD7NI7TKZ6EGAA7AY\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">testified<\/a> against Middleton in the trial, which is currently taking place. Before dating Young, Middleton already had a daughter with someone else, so when Young became pregnant with their first child together, he coerced her into having an abortion. \u201cHe just told me that he wasn\u2019t ready for another baby,&#8221; she said on the stand. She didn&#8217;t want to parent alone, and felt pressured \u2014 though she didn&#8217;t want an abortion.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;He wasn&#8217;t too happy about it,&#8221; she said of the pregnancy. &#8220;He said we&#8217;ll have to get an abortion. We would get into arguments about it. I was afraid of doing it on my own.&#8221;\u00a0Later, she became pregnant again \u2014 this time with twins. And this time, she was determined to protect her children.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/walgreens-cvs-petition\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-283198\" src=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Keep-Abortion-Pill-Out-Of-Walgreens-CVSLAN-Horizontal--700x180.jpg\" alt=\"Walgreens CVS banner\" width=\"700\" height=\"180\" srcset=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Keep-Abortion-Pill-Out-Of-Walgreens-CVSLAN-Horizontal--700x180.jpg 700w, https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Keep-Abortion-Pill-Out-Of-Walgreens-CVSLAN-Horizontal--300x77.jpg 300w, https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Keep-Abortion-Pill-Out-Of-Walgreens-CVSLAN-Horizontal--768x197.jpg 768w, https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Keep-Abortion-Pill-Out-Of-Walgreens-CVSLAN-Horizontal--500x128.jpg 500w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I was shocked at first, but I was really excited about having two babies,&#8221; she said, although Middleton again wanted her to have an abortion. &#8220;[W]e argued a lot about keeping the boys.&#8221; Young said that when she told him she was having twins, he hung up on her.<\/p>\n<p>Young&#8217;s pregnancy was high risk, and she had to be hospitalized; eventually, she went into premature labor at 32 weeks. But the two boys, Devale and Deville, were otherwise doing well. \u201cDevale means gift from God, and Deville means protector from God,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>Shortly after birth, however, prosecutors said Middleton began abusing his sons. After 11 days, Young noticed something seemed wrong after spending a weekend with Middleton, and took the twins to the hospital. Both were found to have skull fractures and bleeding in their brains. Devale survived, but Deville did not.<\/p>\n<p>Middleton has claimed the injuries were accidents, but prosecutor Debbie Gulledge said, &#8220;By the end of this trial, the picture will be clear, and that is that the defendant is guilty of what he has been charged with.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/give.liveaction.org\/general-donation\/?utm_source=lan&amp;utm_medium=display&amp;utm_campaign=monthly&amp;utm_content=article\"><i>Did you know that as little as $10 a month is enough to reach more than 3,000 people with the truth about abortion that no one else is telling them? Click here to start saving lives 365 days a year.<\/i><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A North Carolina man is accused of murdering one of his newborn children after the mother refused an abortion.\u00a0Robert Middleton is currently facing first-degree murder charges, as well as charges of child abuse. The baby was just seven weeks old. Takaylia Young, the mother of the children, testified against Middleton in the trial, which is [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":286086,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false},"categories":[15,3473],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v20.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Father on trial for murder of newborn after mother refused an abortion<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Robert Middleton is currently facing first-degree murder charges, as well as charges of child abuse. 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The baby was just seven weeks old.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/father-murdered-newborn-mother-refused-abortion\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Live Action News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/liveaction\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-02-27T12:42:20+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-02-24T23:29:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/robert-middleton-trial-murder-newborn.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"608\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Cassy Cooke\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@liveaction\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@liveaction\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Cassy Cooke\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/father-murdered-newborn-mother-refused-abortion\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/father-murdered-newborn-mother-refused-abortion\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Cassy Cooke\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/16622da192101346f516b7444d125392\"},\"headline\":\"Father on trial for murder of newborn after mother refused an abortion\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-02-27T12:42:20+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-02-24T23:29:13+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/father-murdered-newborn-mother-refused-abortion\/\"},\"wordCount\":402,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Analysis\",\"Newsbreak\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/father-murdered-newborn-mother-refused-abortion\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/father-murdered-newborn-mother-refused-abortion\/\",\"name\":\"Father on trial for murder of newborn after mother refused an abortion\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2023-02-27T12:42:20+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-02-24T23:29:13+00:00\",\"description\":\"Robert Middleton is currently facing first-degree murder charges, as well as charges of child abuse. 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