Multiple people charged in Nebraska for burning and burying foetus following home abortion

Charges were filed after [olice obtained Facebook messaages betwen the mother and daughter

The foetus was allegedly buried north of Norfolk, Nebraska (Getty Images)

A mother and daughter have reportedly been charged over a home abortion that ended with a foetus being burned and buried by the pair in Nebraska, where the practice is banned after 20 weeks.

Jessica Burgess, 41, allegedly helped her daughter Celeste Burgess, 18, recieve an abortion without the help of a licensed doctor, as KMEG-TV and the Lincoln Journal Star reported on Monday. The birth allegedly took place in April at about the 23 week mark, in violation of Nebraska state law.

Police began investigating the case in April following a tip-off, with Celeste and her mother allegedly telling police that she had experienced a miscarriage in the shower before burying the foetus.

The duo tol police the foeotus was burried at an an address in Nebraska’s Madison County with the help of a man, Tanner Barnhill, 22, whose parents owned the property. The mother and daughter were afterwards charged for concealing a death and for false reporting of a death.

When the body was retrieved by investigators in late April, court records repotedly said it showed signs of “thermal wounds.” Police then accused the pair of burning the foetus.

Further charges were filed against the mother and daughter in recent days after police in the city of Norfolk served Facebook with a search warrant for messages between them. as Forbes reported on Monday. Those messages allegedly showed that Ms Burgess had obtained abortion pills for her daughter and provided instructions on how to take them.

The Burgesses were eventully accused of peforming an abortion illegally after the messages between the pair were obtained by investigators. A spokesperson for Facebook told Forbes that no further information about the police request could be provided.

Ms Burgess and her daughter were charged last week in Madison County District Court for performing or attempting an abortion over 20 weeks and for performing an abortion without a license, which are felonies in Nebraska. The both pleaded not guilty, reports said.

Mr Barnhill was meanwhile accused of concealing a death and denied the charges against him. All three are due to appear in court again for sentencing and it was unclear if they had lawyers.

The case comes in the wake of the US Supreme Court’s decision to annual abortion rights guranteed by the landmark decision in Roe v Wade, leading to fears about women’s access to abortion services in Republian states.

Nebraska’s Republican governor Pete Ricketts said on Monday he will not call on state legislators to vote on a 12-week abortion ban because there was insufficeient support for the restriction in the state, which enforces a 20-week ban on abortions.

“I don’t think I’ve ever had a case like this,”said Madison County Attorney Joseph Smith to the Journal Star on Friday. “Usually, abortions are performed in hospitals, and doctors are involved, and it’s not the type of stuff that occurred in this case.”

The Independent has approached the Madison County attorney’s office for comment.