I hate that I have to bring you this news tonight, but I’m glad that the timing of my conversation with Dr. Shelley Sella meant that I could talk with her about what it all means. Dr. Sella is the first woman to openly practice third-trimester abortion care in the U.S, and the author of Beyond Limits: Stories of Third-Trimester Abortion Care. We spoke about her incredible book (which you should absolutely buy), why politicians need to get over their fear of talking about later abortions, and how compassion and empathy is at the heart of third-trimester care.
In the hours before our chat, though, some troubling news broke: A Pennsylvania teenager who self-managed her abortion was arrested; so was her mother, who obtained the abortion pills and helped her daughter bury the fetus.
While abortion is legal until 24 weeks in Pennsylvania, the pair were charged over how they disposed of the fetal remains—a tactic we’ve seen many times before. In fact, this is precisely what I warned about last night in my breakdown of criminalization trends.
Before I get into the details of this nightmare, I want to point out that this is the third criminal case we know about involving mothers and their teenage daughters since Roe was overturned. (Just in case you’re wondering about the dangerous ‘criminals’ these laws target.) That was also the first thing Dr. Sella thought about when she read the news:
“There have been other cases, right? Of mothers trying to help their daughters. And it's really heartbreaking. I mean, it's this mother who is trying to help her daughter who's in a difficult situation. And don't we believe in family values? I mean, this is a mother taking care of her child.”
I first learned about this case back in March, when Jezebel reported that the teen was being investigated. I hoped that it would end there, without charges—especially given that she lived in Pennsylvania. But living in a pro-choice state doesn’t mean shit if prosecutors can just use fetal personhood and ‘viability’ as workarounds.
And that’s exactly what happened here. Police allege that the Lancaster County mother obtained abortion pills for her daughter, who was about 20-weeks pregnant. After they buried the fetus, a ‘friend’ of the teen turned them into police.
The teenager has been charged with concealing the death of a child and abuse of a corpse; her mother has been charged with endangering the welfare of children, corruption of minors, and criminal conspiracy to conceal the death of a child.
I have to say, while we’ve become unfortunately accustomed to seeing women charged with abuse of a corpse, seeing concealing the death of a child truly put me over the edge. If you thought living in a pro-choice state kept you safe from fetal personhood, boy were you wrong!
And just check out the first sentence of this release from the Susquehanna Regional Police:
“An East Donegal Township mother and daughter have been charged with concealing the death of a newborn baby and then abusing its corpse after inducing a dangerous at-home abortion.”
A newborn baby? Abusing its corpse??
Somehow, it gets worse. In addition to repeatedly calling the fetus a ‘baby’, law enforcement also makes clear that the only reason they’re not charging the mother and daughter with criminal homicide was “due to the inability to determine whether the baby was born alive.” This, from Republican District Attorney Heather Adams, is also telling:
“I want to be abundantly clear that these defendants are not being charged with performing an abortion—as the law prevents us from doing—but for their actions after the abortion.”
Like other prosecutors who’ve brought similar charges, Adams is trying to distance herself from abortion. She knows that no one wants to see women—especially not moms and their teen daughters!—arrested for ending a pregnancy. So they need to pretend that this has nothing to do with reproductive rights. But we’re not stupid.
As Dr. Sella said, “of course it’s about abortion.” She also points out that if the teen had access to care, then this might never have happened.
In fact, that appears to be the case: police say that the teenager tried to get an abortion at Planned Parenthood, but was told that she was too far along. (Even if abortion is legal up until 24 weeks in the state, it doesn’t mean that all clinics provide care up until that point.)
But here’s the thing: ‘Viability’ may not be real medical standard, but it is a legal one in Pennsylvania. And this teen’s pregnancy was a month too early to be considered legally viable. Why, then, are police officers calling the fetus a “newborn”? Why are the mother and daughter being charged with abusing a “child”?
Would they have left her alone if she had been just a few weeks earlier in her pregnancy? And what business do the police have being involved in this at all?
Garin Marschall, co-founder of Patient Forward, says the mother and daughter “are victims of later abortion stigma and fetal personhood laws, which are being weaponized by the state.”
And that’s the thing: When pro-choice states have legal ‘viability’ limits, they are still endorsing restrictions and fetal personhood—just on a different timeline! And when you create that line at all, you’re opening the door for zealous police officers and prosecutors to use it as an excuse to target the most marginalized—like young people.
I’ll have more on this story in the coming days, but you can be sure that we’ll see more prosecutions like this if we don’t shut them down. It’s vital that we let district attorneys and local law enforcement know that we’re paying attention—and that we won’t stand for people being criminalized over their pregnancy outcomes.
You can contact the Susquehanna Regional Police Department at (717) 426-1164, or by using this contact form. If you’d like to contact District Attorney Heather Adams—and you sure should—you can email her here, or call 717-299-8100.
We should also be calling on our lawmakers to propose and pass legislation that prohibits state agencies from charging people over their pregnancy outcomes—whether it’s abortion, miscarriage, or stillbirth. And Marschall recommends that providers in pro-choice states “expand abortion care to their state’s legal limits.”
All of which is to say: there are things we can do. So let’s do them.
Finally, please make the time to listen to Dr. Sella—who has been at the center of this fight for decades—and buy her book. You can also follow Dr. Sella on Instagram, or attend one of her upcoming book events.
I have to say: I feel really fortunate that folks like Dr. Sella make the time to share their work with the Abortion, Every Day community—and I’m so grateful to you all for listening, joining, and spreading the word.
When I see how many people care about this issue—and are willing to do something about it—it brings me a tremendous amount of hope.
We’re up against cruelty, yes. But we’re also building something stronger: a movement rooted in care, connection, and relentless truth-telling. Thank you for being part of it.
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