Young woman and mother jailed for illegal abortion
A court in the US state of Nebraska has sentenced a young woman to 90 days in prison for having an abortion with medication. The 19-year-old girl’s name is Celeste Burgess. The same court sentenced Celeste’s mother, Jessica Burgess, to five years in prison for aiding and abetting the abortion.
Abortion was legally prohibited in Nebraska after 20 weeks of gestation. Celeste had an illegal abortion at around 28 weeks. Because of this, the court found him guilty. However, this state currently prohibits abortion at 12 weeks of pregnancy.
Police began investigating Celeste and her mother Jessica in June last year. Later that month, the United States Supreme Court overturned a nearly five-decade-old law granting abortion rights. Repealing the national law, the order says states can now legislate to allow or ban abortions as they see fit. Several conservative states quickly moved to implement the law.
Celeste was 17 years old when she had the abortion. At the time, abortion was legally prohibited in the state after 20 weeks of pregnancy. Earlier this year, state lawmakers passed a law banning abortion after 12 weeks of pregnancy.
According to court documents, Celeste took medication to induce an abortion in the third month of her pregnancy, which is illegal under Nebraska law.
Initially, Celeste told the police that she gave birth to a stillborn fetus. But court documents say Celeste and her mother, Jessica, discussed how to get the abortion pill and burn all the evidence on Facebook Messenger.
Celeste was found guilty last May of having an illegal abortion and concealing the matter. The court sentenced him to three months imprisonment with two years probation. However, charges of concealing the death of the fetus and giving false information against him were withdrawn.
And the court sentenced Jessica, Celeste’s mother, to five years in prison on charges of assisting in illegal abortions and giving false information to the authorities. Jessica’s sentence will start from next September.
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