What to know about the shocking Nebraska abortion case in which a teenager was sentenced
Gabrielle M. Etzel
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The sentencing of a Nebraska teenager and mother in an abortion-related case has drawn significant attention nationwide.
Abortion rights activists are citing it as an example of the dangers of criminalizing abortion and the possibilities of women being prosecuted for abortions in the post-Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization era.
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Anti-abortion activists, meanwhile, are drawing attention to the gruesome facts of the case to say that it highlights the need for legal protections for unborn children.
Here is what to know about the complex case.
What is the news that prompted the controversy?
Celeste Burgess, 19, of Norfolk, accepted a plea bargain on Thursday for 90 days in jail and two years probation on the charge of concealing human remains after prosecutors agreed to drop charges of concealing a death and falsely reporting to the police.
Her mother, Jessica Burgess, 42, will be sentenced on Sept. 22 for providing abortion pills to a minor and facilitating an abortion after the 20-week gestation period under the then-applicable law. She faces up to five years in prison.
What are the facts of the case?
The case did not start as an investigation into an illegal abortion.
Police began investigating the Burgesses in April 2022 after a tip was reported that the two women possibly disposed of an infant corpse in their backyard. When questioned by police, the Burgesses confirmed they had buried the body of a stillborn infant in their backyard.
Local authorities then asked Facebook for private messages between the Burgesses to inform their investigation into the concealment of a corpse and possible desecration of a body. Celeste Burgess, who was 17 at the time, discussed with her mother via private Facebook messages a plan to perform the abortion using pills obtained online and then to “burn the evidence.”
Only after these messages were reviewed by police did the investigation turn into one for an illegal abortion, which would carry charges for Jessica Burgess as the supplier of the abortion pills.
Court records document that the child was at 28 weeks gestation, and subpoenaed medical records indicate Celeste Burgess’s due date was July 3. At the time, abortion was legal in Nebraska only up until 20 weeks of pregnancy. When the remains of the child were exhumed, police found evidence of “thermal injuries” on the body.
What are abortion rights advocates saying?
Various abortion rights advocates have spoken out against the case as an example of prosecuting abortion-seekers.
Elizabeth Ling of If/When/How, which manages a legal hotline for abortion-seekers, said the prosecution of Celeste Burgess adds to a “climate of fear” around abortion and that Nebraska prosecutors are “weaponizing their laws” for political actions.
“A teen doesn’t want to be a mother, and for that, Republicans send her to jail,” 20-year-old Democratic influencer Harry Sisson said. “This cruelty needs to end.”
Others are using this case as another reason to defund the police. Eric Reinhart, a political anthropologist specializing in public health at Harvard University, said this “criminalization of abortion and war against bodily autonomy” will only worsen as prominent Democrats move away from commitments to defund the police.
What do anti-abortion advocates think?
After the leak of the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization Supreme Court case that overturned Roe v. Wade, a coalition of 70 anti-abortion organizations wrote an open letter to state lawmakers saying not to criminalize abortion for abortion seekers but rather for abortion providers.
“We understand better than anyone else the desire to punish the purveyors of abortion who act callously and without regard to the dignity of human life,” read the letter, among which the signatories included Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America and the National Right to Life Committee. “But turning women who have abortions into criminals is not the way.”
“Women who have abortions require our compassion and support, not criminalization,” said Carol Tobias, president of National Right to Life.
Anti-abortion advocates also often highlight that pre-Roe era laws against abortion did not criminalize the woman who obtained the procedure but rather the person who performed the procedure for preying on vulnerable women.
Why is an abortion in this case unique?
Infants born alive prematurely at 28 weeks gestation have an 80%-90% survival rate with a 10% chance of long-term health problems, according to the University of Utah. A premature infant delivered at 32 weeks has over a 95% chance of survival with little risk of health complications.
Less than 1% of abortions were performed after 21 weeks. Abortions performed after 24 weeks gestation are medically termed “abortions later in pregnancy” and are colloquially known as “late-term abortions.” These abortions are performed through a dilation and extraction, or a D and E, procedure in which the abortionist snips the child’s spinal cord before delivery.
Over 93% of abortions in the United States are performed before 13 weeks gestation, with the majority of those being chemical abortions conducted before nine weeks gestation, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Although it is unclear what medication was taken to induce an abortion in the Burgess case, a mifepristone-misoprostol combination is the most common form of medication abortion in the U.S.
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Mifepristone is the first pill in a combination with misoprostol to induce a chemical abortion. Mifepristone acts as an agent that blocks hormones necessary for fetal development, while misoprostol induces contractions to expel the fetus. The Food and Drug Administration has approved the use of mifepristone only for pregnancies up to 10 weeks gestation.
Misoprostol, which can be taken alone to induce an abortion, is not cleared by the FDA for use as the sole abortifacient agent.