Ilhan Omar has spoken out in defence of a teenage lady who was jailed for 90 days after taking an abortion capsule to finish an undesirable being pregnant.
The Democratic congresswoman posted a picture on Instagram of an article titled: “Nebraska teen who used pills to end pregnancy gets 90 days in jail”.
“This is a freighting violation of privacy and autonomy…” Ms Omar wrote.
Celeste Burgess, 19, was sentenced final week after she and her mom Jessica Burgess, 42, pleaded responsible to expenses earlier this yr.
Prosecutors stated Celeste Burgess used abortion capsules nicely past the 10-week restrict authorized by the Food and Drug Administration.
Court data reveal that she terminated her being pregnant when she was practically 30 weeks pregnant, surpassing the commonly recognised level of viability at 23 to 24 weeks. At that stage, a foetus would have a better likelihood of survival outdoors the womb.
The mom and daughter had been charged after their non-public Facebook messages had been obtained by the police.
These messages revealed their plans to finish Celeste’s being pregnant through the use of abortion capsules ordered on-line after which “burn the evidence”.
The teenager was not charged by prosecutors below Nebraska’s abortion regulation.
Prosecutors agreed to drop two expenses of concealing a demise and false reporting in opposition to her after she pleaded responsible in May to concealing human skeletal stays.
Celeste was additionally sentenced to 2 years probation other than her 90 days’ jail sentence.
Joseph Smith, the highest prosecutor in Madison County, Nebraska, stated the sentence “seems reasonable” as {the teenager} has no felony historical past.
“It’s a painful case for everybody,” he stated, including that it was the primary case of its kind that he had prosecuted in his 33-years-long profession “and I’m glad it’s over”.
Jessica Burgess in the meantime faces as much as 5 years in jail.
The case has prompted widespread discusson, wth Ms Omar the newest to touch upon the case.
Her put up had garnered greater than 68,000 likes as of early Tuesday morning, with feedback fom her supporters together with that the case was “like the beginning of the Handmaid’s Tale”.