Nebraska teen sentenced to jail after taking abortion pills to terminate pregnancy.
A Nebraska teen who took abortion pills her mother secured for her online to terminate her pregnancy has been sentenced to jail.
Celeste Burgess, 19, pled guilty to the charges of “concealing or abandoning a dead body” after she took medication to induce a miscarriage at 23 weeks gestation, and then buried the fetal remains with her mother.
“I was honestly scared at the time,” the teen said, according to theNorfolk Daily News, which reported that Burgess, who was 17 at the time of her pregnancy, also said the father of her child was allegedly abusive.
“I didn’t know what to do. I freaked out. I didn’t know what way to turn at all after everything had happened. And I wanted to do the right thing,” Burgess said in court. “But then I didn’t know if what I was doing at the time was the right thing. I do regret my decisions very much.”
Jessica Burgess faces sentencing in September.
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After inducing her miscarriage, Burgess and her mother, Jessica Burgess, 42, buried, exhumed, and reburied the fetal remains twice, attempting to burn them after the second exhumation, according to a report inToday.They buried the remains a third time with the help of a friend, who later pled no contest to charges of attempting to conceal a death.
Since the overturning ofRoe v. Wade,many states — including Nebraska — have either banned or placed strict limitations on abortion access. Abortion is now illegal in Nebraska after12 weeksof pregnancy, although at the time Burgess was pregnant, abortion access was legal up to 20 weeks gestation.
According to an earlier report, a friend of the teenager’s had reached out to the County Attorney’s Officeand told authoritiesshe was there when Burgess took the first pill.
The Burgesses voluntarily showed McBride where they buried the remains, according toToday.
The teen has been sentenced to 90 days in jail with 24 months of probation, and court records show she is currently an inmate at Madison County Jail.
With good behavior, she may be releasedafter 53 days.
“I would really want a chance to actually prove to everyone that I could be a good person,” she said, according to theNorfolk Daily News.
Jessica Burgesshas pleaded guiltyto providing an abortion after 20 weeks, false reporting, and tampering with human skeletal remains.
She faces up to five years in prison, and is due to be sentenced in September.
source: people.com
