Police in California have arrested a woman on suspicion of murder after she gave birth to a stillborn baby boy who had lethal quantities of methamphetamine in his system.
Hanford Police said they were seeking Chelsea Becker on charges of homicide following the death of her child. “We ended up getting a murder warrant for her arrest, so we have been checking several different areas in and around the city of Hanford,” Hanford Police Sgt. Justin Vallin explained to ABC-30.
Becker was subsequently arrested in the 1000 block of Lark Street in Visalia and booked into the Kings County jail on a $5 million bail, the Fresno Bee reported.
The police chief revealed that Becker had given birth to the stillborn baby boy back in September. Sensing something was amiss, medics ran tests on the deceased infant, which subsequently revealed deadly quantities of methamphetamine present in his blood.
“This child, who was stillborn, was well over the toxic limit for an adult,” Vallin added.
Investigators noted that Becker had been taking the Class-A drug for the entirety of her pregnancy. “Ms. Becker had been notified of what drug use could do if she was pregnant or while she was pregnant about the harmful effects it could have on a child,” Vallin said.
Becker’s long-term drug abuse had resulted in her losing custody of three additional children. Becker’s oldest son was born addicted to crystal meth and subsequently adopted by her aunt, Julie Lance.
“If she wants to see him. She needs to turn herself in,” Lance said, according to the Metro. “I know she loves him and I know if there’s anything in the world she wants it’s this baby…she needs to turn herself in.”
Some have used the case to call out the hypocrisy of the pro-abortion argument.
Law enforcement strongly condemned the fact she was using drugs for her entire pregnancy as a lethal shirking of parental responsibility, and rightly so. But, as many have pointed out, if she decided to have the baby killed via abortion, it would likely be recognized (and likely celebrated) as a responsible adult decision.
“If you kill your unborn baby with drugs, it’s murder. But if you have someone else do it with “medical tools”, it’s your “right,” one person tweeted. “Go figure.”
“Wait a minute…. unborn baby? Only when they choose to call a baby, a “baby.” But if they outright murder the baby via abortion “it” is a “fetus,” another added.
“Yeah you can’t have it both ways!” one user exclaimed. “It’s either just her choice or an act of murder.”
Others suggested that the woman should not be jailed for her crimes, but should instead be admitted to rehab for treatment. “This is wrong,” one person wrote. “She should NOT be charged with murder. She’s an addict who needs help. This is a very slippery slope that could lead to throwing pregnant women in jail..”
California’s current laws do not allow for the abortion of a viable fetus. In theory, this means that unborn babies have some legal protection beyond the viability threshold, which tends to be somewhere between 24 and 28 weeks gestation.