Florida Judge Lowers Bail for Woman Who Forced Her Daughter to Have Abortion
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
March 30, 2009
Ft. Lauderdale, FL (LifeNews.com) — A judge has lowered the bail amount for a woman who allegedly forced her teenager daughter to have an abortion. Tonuya Rainey, 38, reportedly obtained drugs from an abortion center to make her daughter have an abortion and then threw the body of the baby in the trash.
The incident occurred earlier this month and Rainey appeared in court one week ago where she had her bail raised from $14,000 to almost $200,000.
Rainey’s public defender, Howard Finkelstein, objected to Broward County Judge John Hurley’s decision and filed an appeal with Florida’s Fourth District Court of Appeal in West Palm Beach.
Rainey went back home from jail on Saturday after Judge Matthew Destry lowered her bond back to the original $14,000.
”She’s a good mother, an excellent mother," Rainey’s sister Natira Williams told the Miami Herald after the decision.
However, Rainey reportedly did not want her 16-year-old daughter to give birth, so she obtained abortion pills and gave them to her daughter. An assistant state attorney said in a police report that the daughter "said to her mother she wanted to keep the baby."
While spending time at a local nightclub, her daughter gave birth in the bathroom of their home.
A police report, the television station noted, indicated the baby was alive at the time of the birth and was "moving his hands and breathing."
The Herald indicates some disagreement about whether the baby boy was breathing at the time of his birth. The daughter in the case has reportedly told police she saw the baby breathing but Rainey disputes that.
WFOR indicates Rainey told police she "placed the infant in a bag and dumped the infant in the garbage." Although sanitation workers have picked up the garbage, the baby boy’s body has not been located.
Rainey faces felony charges including termination of pregnancy, improper disposal of human remains, unlicensed practice of health care, and child abuse, but does not face any murder charges in connection with the death of the unborn child.
Under the terms of the bail, Rainey may not have contact with her daughter or her other child, and her daughter has been placed in foster care pending the outcome of the trial.
Rainey’s 18-year-old daughter, Allegra Jackson, with whom Rainey can have contact, alleges her mother didn’t force her sister to have an abortion.
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