California Supreme Court allows murder charge in case of stillborn fetus

The California Supreme Court refused to stop prosecution of a woman accused of murder after authorities said she used methamphetamine before her stillborn fetus was born.

On Wednesday, the court rejected a challenge to the charge by the state attorney. Gen. Xavier Becerra, whose office normally represents county prosecutors when their cases are appealed, the San Francisco Chronicle reported Thursday.

However, Becerra, nominated by President-elect Joe Biden to head the US Department of Health and Human Services, is a supporter of reproductive rights and, in a letter to the judges, said fear of prosecution could prevent pregnant women from seeking addiction services.

The case could also lead to additional scrutiny by police over miscarriages and stillbirths, he said.

Chelsea Becker of Hanford has been in custody on a $ 2 million bond since the 2019 fetal death. Police say methamphetamine was found in the fetus and that Becker, who was eight months pregnant at the time of the child’s birth dead, he admitted to having used the drug. Becker, 26, has pleaded not guilty.

Supporters say substance use disorder is a medical condition, not a crime, and that there is not enough evidence to say that methamphetamine use causes stillbirth.

Philip Esbenshade, Executive Assistant, Kings County Dist. Atty. Keith Fagundes said the law authorizes a murder charge for “the unlawful reckless or indifferent conduct of a mother resulting in the unlawful death of her fetus.”

“This is not a case about abortion or about women’s reproductive rights,” she told the Chronicle. “This is a case about a person who performed specific acts that resulted in the death of a viable fetus.”

The 1970 California law allowing a murder charge does not say whether the pregnant woman can be charged. But it lists circumstances that would prevent prosecution, including legal abortion, medical intervention to save the woman’s life, or any act “requested, aided, instigated or consented to by the mother of the fetus.

-AP