This is just heartbreaking. Via RH Realty Check comes word that an Indiana woman who lost her child after a failed suicide attempt is being charged with “feticide.”
Last December, Bei Bei Shuai attempted suicide by eating rat poison. She was in the late stages of pregnancy at the time. A friend took Shuai to the hospital where she gave birth on December 31st, but her daughter Angel died on on January 2nd. Now the county prosecutor is bringing charges of murder and feticide against Shuai.
From The Indystar:
Attorney Linda Pence, who’s representing Bei Bei Shuai, 34, said the charges are not only unwarranted, but they could prevent other troubled mothers from seeking the help they need.
This case is disturbing in a number of ways. Someone who attempts suicide needs help and support, not to be subjected to criminal charges. While clearly in a difficult mental state Shuai gave birth and then lost the child, an experience that had to be difficult even if she wasn’t looking forward to carrying the pregnancy to term. The state of Indiana is clearly prioritizing the life of the fetus over the life of the mother. Shuai is being charged because of harm she caused her own body, which resulted in harm to the fetus. As Robin Marty points out:
If Shuai is charged as such, the state has just declared that any pregnant woman who is hurt in any way that could be seen as self-inflicted could be charge as a potential self-aborter and murderer, asnearly happened in Iowa last year, or passed in Utah after that.
It’s hard to see this as anything but a prosecutor trying to cram their anti-choice politics into the case of a woman who needs help, not jail time. Shuai is currently being held without bond.
Indiana woman charged with feticide: