Court allows murder charges against meth-addict mother for baby’s stillbirth
The California Supreme Court allowed the prosecution of Chelsea Becker who was charged with murder after authorities said she used methamphetamine before her fetus was stillborn. California’s Attorney General Xavier Becerra challenged the charge. Hanford resident Becker, 26, is in custody on $2 million bail since the 2019 stillbirth of her 8.5-month fetus. She has pleaded not guilty.
For those asking how this differs from abortion / could be illegal in California, here's the deal: Once upon a time in California, a man beat his girlfriend to intentionally cause her to miscarry. He was arrested, but ultimately they could not charge him with anything under the law at the time. So the legislature passed a law stating essentially that "anyone who causes a woman to miscarry a fetus" could be charged with murder for the action. Many years later, some activist DA in an extremely conservative county decided to twist the intent of that law to charge a woman over the miscarriage of her own fetus, and with the way it was written, the law technically allowed for that. Since then they've tried to use the tactic at every opportunity.
But how is it murder if it's a fetus? Does that not imply human life? Honest question, how is this any different from what places like Planned Parenthood do?
It's murder because abortion clinics don't want competition in the baby murder industry.
This is another example of a California politician violating their oath of office. Instead of prosecuting a murderer, Becerra defends her.
Isn't that her body and her choice? For the record im all for charges.
treating addiction as a typical crime has run its course, demonstrably ineffective. when this poor woman sobers up she will live with the guilt for the rest of her life. adding a prison sentence isn't going to help keep her clean or help her deal with the consequences of her actions,or make her a product full member of society.
Jeez, get her help, don’t throw her in jail. She obviously has an addiction.
I get it, but if you've never faced addiction, you can't understand. She had a stillbirth probably because of it, but the justice system is having a miscarriage.
So the bigger question is at what point is addiction seen as a medical problem that can be treated as opposed to a criminal issue which, invariably, is not treated?
She'd be put on rehab & treatment in any respectable country, but well, it's the US we're talking
It's california, if she wanted an abortion she is allowed to seek one. It's allowed partially to avoid the old coat hanger solution.
Donald Trump doesn’t have a drug addiction and knows all of what he’s doing how many deaths is he responsible for?
How is it legal for a mom to hire someone to give infanticide to abort whereas a drug addicted mom who doesn't know better gets blamed?
Addiction is a medical condition.
And abortion is legal
Are they jailing her because some one wanted the baby? I wonder what the wait time for baby adoption is in California? In my area the parents have to foster children first or make over 100,000 a year with a 5 or more year wait for a baby.
Kill a baby go to jail sounds good
Horrible news
Hasn't SCOTUS decided that a fetus isn't human therefore has no rights & that a mother can abort a fetus because it's her right to privacy? Didn't this woman take meth in the privacy of her home? Isn't SCOTUS hypocritical?
“This is a case about a person who did specific acts that resulted in the death of a viable fetus.” So some specific acts that result in the death of a viable fetus are "reproductive rights" and others are "murder". Got it.