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A child touches her pregnant mother's stomach at the last stages of her pregnancy in Bordeaux April 28, 2010. A January 2010 report indicates that life expectancy and fertility of French women are among the highest in Europe. Reuters/Regis Duvignau

A woman from Arizona has been charged with identity theft and fraud for allegedly faking cancer. By faking the disease, she had hoped to have the state pay for her abortion in 2010. The actions prompting the charges were recently revealed by the prosecutor in the case.

Reportedly, 29-year-old Chalice Renee Zeitner presented inaccurate information to her obstetrician between March and April 2010, stating that she had stage 4 sarcoma, according to a statement released by the Arizona attorney general's office. In addition, she claimed that her pregnancy was a risk to her life.

Further, the statement said that Zeitner told her obstetrician that surgery had been scheduled in Boston to remove tumours from her lower spine and abdomen. Later, she enrolled in the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System. Medicaid pays for abortions where the life of the mother is at risk. Zeitner's pregnancy was terminated on April 8, 2010, at a hospital in Phoenix.

Medicaid authorities later found that the documents provided by Zeitner to her obstetrician were all false. The attorney's statement said that an investigation into the case revealed that the Massachusetts physician cited in the documents had not treated Zeitner for any kind of cancer and had not even met her.

Shortly thereafter, the woman was charged with fraud, identity theft, forgery and theft. Zeitner was detained in Columbia Country, Georgia, by sheriff's deputies and an FBI task force three days after she was charged on May 5. Authorities say Zeitner had used the name Al Serkez while in Georgia.

Contact the writer at: emailtoguneet@gmail.com.

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