Pregnant Woman Was Allegedly Hit in Stomach by Man, Went into Labor During 'Unfathomable' Attack: DA

A Pennsylvania man is accused of brutally attacking a pregnant woman — striking her in the stomach and pushing her into the toilet — and during the incident, the woman went into labor.

The woman was attacked in a Somerset, Pa., home, the Somerset County District Attorney’s Office said in a statement on Tuesday, Dec. 24. The incident took place on Dec. 19, police said, according to The Daily American.

Andrew Ashurst faces multiple assault charges, per the DA’s statement.

The attack stemmed from a verbal altercation, per the DA’s office, and Ashurst allegedly “pushed the pregnant victim into the toilet causing her to strike her head, struck her in the appendix area, pulled her around the house by her hair, and slapped and struck her in the face with a cell phone.” 

When the woman went into labor mid-attack, authorities allege, Ashurst refused to let her call police. 

Responding officers found her with several bruises on her back, arms, eye, cheek and forehead, investigators said. 

It wasn’t immediately clear how the victim and suspect might know each other. 

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District Attorney Molly Metzgar said the allegations are “unfathomable.”

“As a mother, I understand the vulnerability of a woman and her unborn child and I am appalled that anyone would jeopardize the lives of these two people,” she said in her statement.

Ashurst has been charged with aggravated assault of an unborn child, aggravated assault, false imprisonment, unlawful restraint, simple assault and harassment charges, according to online courts reviewed by PEOPLE. 

He’s being held on $50,000 bail. Online court records did not indicate lawyer and plea information.