US teenager accused of having an abortion after sharing private conversations with police on Facebook

In early June, the charges against Jessica Burgess (41) and her daughter Celeste Burgess (18) were not minor: concealing the death of another person, making a false statement and concealing or leaving a body. About a month later, after investigators reviewed the private messages of those involved on Facebook, they added charges of illegal abortion against the mother and daughter. The daughter, now 18, was charged as an adult at the prosecutor’s request.

The Journal Star He cited court records in which Celeste Burgess initially told police she accidentally gave birth to her stillborn baby in the bathroom. She and her mother would bag the fetus and bury the body in a box a few miles north of town.

But according to several US media, police continued their investigation after receiving a tip from a friend of the teenager. She said she saw Celeste Burgess take the abortion pill. A search warrant sent to Facebook gave police access to the accounts of Celeste and Jessica Burgess. Their private messages revealed that the mother helped her daughter get an abortion by providing her with abortion pills and instructions for use. Celeste would have been 23 weeks pregnant at the time. In Nebraska, abortion is illegal after 20 weeks.

burning

In a Facebook post, Jessica Burgess advises her 17-year-old daughter that she received abortion pills and how to take them to end the pregnancy. According to court records, the daughter says she can’t wait to get the ‘thing’ out of her body.

According to Politics The embryo showed signs of ‘heat injuries’, indicating that the embryo had been burned. The article also says the daughter confirmed in Facebook messages with her mother that the two would “burn the evidence later.”

A Facebook spokesperson declined to discuss the details of the matter, but the company says employees “always review any government request to ensure it is legitimate.” Politics. Facebook also says it won’t respond to invalid or overly broad requests.

Roe v. It was one of the few known cases in which Facebook provided information to help authorities investigate an abortion case after the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in June to overrule Wade.

After the Supreme Court’s ruling in June, Facebook and Instagram immediately began removing posts offering abortion pills to women in their state who didn’t have access to them.