(LifeSiteNews) — Former U.S. Naval Lieutenant Emmanuel Coble, 27, was handed a life sentence for the 2022 murder of his pregnant girlfriend and their unborn child after she refused an abortion.
On July 18, Hanover County (Virginia) Judge John Harris sentenced Coble to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the first-degree murder of 20-year-old girlfriend Raquiah King, who was 12 weeks’ pregnant, along with their unborn baby, then taking King’s body across county lines and dumping it in the woods, according to a WTRV.com report. Coble had paid for King to have an abortion, but during her appointment at the abortuary, she decided to keep the baby, leading to an altercation that ended with Coble fatally shooting her in the back.
The Navy officer was also charged and convicted of murder of a pregnant woman, use of a firearm in the commission of murder, concealing or transporting of a body, and the first-degree killing of a fetus.
“This murder indicates someone who has a depraved mind,” Judge John Harris said during the sentencing hearing. “I think he’s an extremely dangerous person, and I think he needs to spend the rest of his life in prison.”
READ: Pennsylvania man who brutally murdered girlfriend, unborn baby sentenced to life in prison
After not going through with the abortion, King had told her mother that she feared Coble and that, should anything happen to her, he should be considered responsible, per WSVN News. She also texted her mother Coble’s full name, address, date of birth, phone numbers, and all contact information. Just seven hours later, her lifeless body was found.
“She was a ray of sunlight. She was fun, beautiful, courageous and strong,” the victim’s brother, Gregory King, recalled about her to WTRV.
In 2023, the pro-life Charlotte Lozier Institute released a study that interviewed 1,000 American women and found that 61 percent of women who undergo abortions do so due to pressure from “male partners, family members, other persons, financial concerns, and other circumstances.”
“Forcing a woman to have an abortion, including a minor, is illegal in all 50 states of the United States of America,” according to the Justice Foundation’s Center Against Forced Abortions, which offers a variety of information resources to help those who are being pressured into killing their babies.
READ: Federal employee charged with capital murder for slipping abortion pills into girlfriend’s coffee
In one recent case in Texas, federal government employee Justin Anthony Banta snuck abortion pills into his girlfriend’s drink at a coffee shop about six weeks into her pregnancy after she rebuffed his offer to buy “Plan C” for her, saying she wanted the baby. Unfortunately, she suffered severe fatigue and bleeding the next day, requiring an emergency room visit, and ultimately lost her baby.
