By Enyichukwu Enemanna
A Court on Friday slammed a two-year jail term on a United States woman from Nebraska for assisting her teenage daughter acquire abortion pills, the New York Times reports.
Jessica Burgess and her daughter were charged with working together to end Celeste Burgess’ pregnancy last year.
Quoting prosecutors, New York Times said Jessica Burgess ordered the pills online and gave them to her daughter, 17, at that time and in the third trimester of her pregnancy
The Burgesses later buried the fetal remains, authorities said.
In April 2022, police began investigating “concerns” that Celeste Burgess had given birth prematurely to a stillborn child, which was allegedly buried.
In July this year, the daughter was sentenced to 90 days in jail after she pleaded guilty to removing or concealing human skeletal remains.
The same month, Jessica Burgess pleaded guilty to violating Nebraska’s abortion law, furnishing false information to a law enforcement officer and removing or concealing human skeletal remains.
Celeste Burgess, who was released earlier this month, was in the courtroom and wiped tears from her face when her mother was sentenced on Friday, The Norfolk Daily News reported.
According to the newspaper, the judge denied a request by Jessica Burgess’ lawyer to sentence her to probation, saying she had treated the fetal remains “like yesterday’s trash”.
The 42-year-old mother faced five charges — including one under a 2010 law which only allows abortion up to 20 weeks after fertilization.
