Ordered medication for teenagers
Mother jailed for assisting in abortion
September 23, 2023, 1:56 p.m
Since the Supreme Court overturned the nationwide right to abortion in the USA, the debate in the USA has become noticeably more intense. The case of a Nebraska mother who helped her underage daughter have an abortion is raising fears about the extent to which affected women and supporters could be prosecuted.
In the US state of Nebraska, a mother was sentenced to two years in prison after helping her daughter have an abortion. As the “New York Times” reported with reference to the prosecutors, the 42-year-old had ordered abortion medication online and given it to her then 17-year-old daughter, who was in the final stages of her pregnancy. The mother and daughter then buried the remains of the fetus.
According to the New York Times report, the court rejected the 42-year-old’s request for a suspended sentence. According to the statement, she treated the remains of the fetus “like yesterday’s trash.” In July, the daughter was sentenced to 90 days in prison.
The investigation into the mother and daughter began even before the Supreme Court overturned the country’s right to abortion in June 2022. Still, the case raised fears about the extent to which women and supporters could be prosecuted for abortions.
Court bans delivery of abortion pills
The already heated debate about abortion in the USA became even more intense when the Supreme Court overturned its landmark 1973 ruling, “Roe v. Wade,” last summer. This provided a constitutional right to abortion. Instead, the decision is now left to the states. Since then, abortions have been banned in at least 15 of 50 states, according to statistics provided by abortion advocates.
Most recently, a court restricted access to the abortion pill mifepristone. The Fifth US Court of Appeals in New Orleans decided that the drug should no longer be sent by mail. It should also no longer be possible to prescribe without a personal visit to the practice, for example after a telephone call. However, the order does not apply immediately because, according to a Supreme Court decision, the drug must continue to be available during the ongoing appeal process.