An 18-year-old woman in rural Nebraska will spend three months in jail for burning and burying the corpse of her unborn child. Though Celeste Burgess aborted the fetus at 30 weeks, she is not serving time because of her late-term abortion but for what she did afterwards.
Headlines from media outlets covering the teen’s jail sentence paint a different, potentially confusing picture.
For example, The New York Times headline reads, “Nebraska teen who used pills to end pregnancy gets 90 days in jail.” While the headline is accurate in that the woman did use pills to end her pregnancy and she is going to jail for 90 days, she’s not going to jail because she used pills to get an abortion.
A New York Post headlines reads, “Nebraska teen Celeste Burgess gets 90 days behind bars for late-term abortion.” Although the abortion did lead to the teenager burning and burying the fetus, the charges are based on the disposal of the stillborn – not the abortion itself.
As abortion remains a hot-button issue in America, this story is generating significant coverage.
Many states have enacted new abortion bans since Roe V. Wade was overturned one year ago, leading to some abortion advocacy groups speculating that states could come after women who illegally terminate their pregnancy based on the new laws.
But this story is not an example of that.
Nebraska did pass a 12-week abortion ban, which is now in effect; it was a 20-week ban prior to that. But Burgess was never charged under the new abortion law – or any other abortion one.
This hasn’t stopped Nebraska lawmakers from expressing their concerns over the case and arguing the 18-year-old needed “help and support” not “prosecution.”
State Senator Megan Hunt said in a previous statement about the case, “How did we fail this young woman? That is a bigger question that we need to ask ourselves as a culture.”
In this specific case, Nebraska’s state law on abortion had no impact on her sentence. Burgess could have burned and buried the human corpse in any of the 50 states and the felony charge would have still applied.
Burgess conducted a self-managed abortion at 30 weeks, in violation of Nebraska’s abortion law, but she wasn’t prosecuted for it. She would have been in violation of abortion laws in 43 states, including more lenient locations like California and New York, given the abortion happened passed the point of viability, which is when the baby could have survived on its own outside of the womb.
In addition to 90 days in jail, Burgess was sentenced to two years’ probation.
“The court specifically finds that while probation is appropriate, confinement is necessary because without this confinement, it would depreciate the seriousness of the crime or promote disrespect for the law,” Seventh Judicial District Court Judge James G. Kube said in a statement on the ruling.
While Celeste Burgess didn’t face any charges related to the abortion, her mother did.
Forty-two-year-old Jessica Burgess, who gave her daughter the abortion pills, faces up to five years in prison after pleading guilty to performing an abortion beyond 20 weeks.
Jessica Burgess’ sentencing hearing is scheduled for September.
