New findings in the case of Jessica Burgess and her 17-year-old daughter are reported by, among others, portal central.newschannelnebraska.com. Burgess’s pre-trial hearing was held on March 3. The woman’s trial will begin on April 10, 2023.
Also in court is 17-year-old Celeste Burgess, who is being tried as an adult. Her pre-trial hearing took place on January 30, and the jury trial on March 13.
Let us recall the events of March 2022. In the state of Nebraska, where abortion is legal until the 20th week after conception (after this time, termination of pregnancy can only be carried out when the health or life of the mother is in danger), Jessica Burgess and her daughter Celeste purchased an abortifacient called Pregnot, which contains mifepristone. These pills are taken in the first trimester of pregnancy.
Belongs to a group Vice portal Motherboard reported, 17-year-old Celeste took them in the 28th week of pregnancy, while other media wrote about the 24th week. The website also published part of the court documentation in this case, which shows that the 17-year-old most likely gave birth to a dead fetus.
Mother and daughter accused of performing home abortion. The 17-year-old responds as an adult
Jessica Burgess has been charged with five crimes. Among other things: help in carrying out an illegal abortion, termination of pregnancy by an unlicensed doctor and hiding and removal of a dead fetus, they write, citing foreign media reports.
In turn, her 17-year-old daughter was charged with removing, hiding or abandoning a dead fetus, as well as with two offenses: giving false testimony and withholding information about death. It should be emphasized that although Celeste was a minor at the time of termination of pregnancy, she was prosecuted as an adult.
The investigation into the two Nebraska residents began on April 26, 2022. It was led by Detective Ben McBride, who testified that both women had told other people they were going to bury and burn the bodies. Under questioning at the police station, Jessica and Celeste claimed that she had suffered a sudden miscarriage. The dead fetus was to be placed in a bag and then transported north of Norfolk, where the defendants come from. According to the investigators, they were supposed to bury the dead fetus on a private property, and a 22-year-old man, the son of the owners of the plot, was to assist in this activity. He was also charged with the misdemeanor of trying to “cover up someone’s death.”
An autopsy showed that the fetus had thermal damage, but the cause of death could not be determined. The results of the examination also confirmed that there was a stillbirth, we read in the pages “WO”.
Mother and daughter accused of home abortion. Facebook gave the police data from their conversations
The case shocked the public opinion in the US for another reason as well. Service Motherboard reached information in the files, which showed that the key evidence during the investigation turned out to be the content of the two women’s Messenger conversations, which Facebook shared with the police.
How did it happen? The investigating detective claimed that the dead fetus had been buried three times in different places. Only 17-year-old Celeste testified that the miscarriage occurred on April 22, 2022. To prove it, she showed the Messenger messages she sent to her mother that day.
This prompted the police officer to apply to the court for an order to release data from Meta Platforms, which owns Facebook and Messenger. In this way, the detective obtained e-mail addresses, user numbers, dates of creation of Facebook accounts, the content of posted posts and the entire list of friends. In addition, he also demanded that the company make available the content of private messages of one of the women in the period from April 15 to August 10, 2022.
The court granted the police request in June 2022. Facebook provided investigators with data from the conversations of both women.
Even more shocking about the case is the fact that in a later Meta press release on Twitter, Andy Stone pointed out that none of the warrants they received from the police stated that the investigation was directly related to abortion. He also added that initially they had a confidentiality clause, which was later lifted.
Constitutional right to abortion revoked
The American media emphasize that the context in which the tragic event took place is also extremely important. Let us recall that in June 2022, the US Supreme Court overturned the judgment in the famous Roe vs. Wade, de facto depriving Americans of the constitutional right to terminate pregnancy and leaving the autonomous decision in this regard to individual states.
Celeste Burgess had an abortion before her sentence was overturned. But according to many journalists, what happened in connection with the case of the 17-year-old shows what reality American women who want to terminate their pregnancy can face.
Journalist Kylie Cheung on Jezebel.com emphasized that “most of the cases where pregnant women have faced criminal charges for self-abortion in the last two decades, they were reported to law enforcement by people they spoke to – doctors and friends.”
Contents of Celeste’s conversations with her mother, provided to law enforcement by Meta (which owns Facebook and Messenger), served as the main evidence in the applicant’s hands, both women.
This spring, a woman named Jessica Burgess and her daughter will stand trial in Nebraska for having an illegal abortion – with key evidence provided by Meta, Facebook’s parent company
– we read on the pages of businessinsider.com.
The police searched the family’s smartphones
Motherboard also shared a partial transcript of a conversation between a mother and daughter, which was included in the court files of the case. In the conversation at the beginning there was no strictly speaking about ordered pills. Later, during the conversation, sentence: “The first pill stops the hormones, then you have to wait 24 hours to take the second.”
After gaining access to Jessica and Burgess’s private messages, the court issued a second warrant, based on which the police could search a total of 13 electronic devices (including smartphones) belonging to members of the Burgess family. At first, the mother and daughter were arrested. The court set bail at $10,000. The woman and her underage daughter answer free of charge.
Sources: central.newschannelnebraska.com/journalstar.com/wysokieobcasy.pl/businessinsider.com/6News/vice.com/Twitter/Jezebel.com
Source: Gazeta
Bruce is a talented author and journalist with a passion for entertainment . He currently works as a writer at the 247 News Agency, where he has established himself as a respected voice in the industry.
