A Nebraska teenager who admitted to throwing her newborn baby out of a window received a sentence of probation on Friday, according to KFOR News 4.
Antonia Lopez, 16, of Omaha, did not receive a prison sentence after she admitted to the act and her case was moved to juvenile court. Her probation sentence includes living in a group home, attending therapy, deactivating her Facebook account and completing 50 hours of community service, according to the report.
In February, Lopez admitted to throwing her newborn baby out of her second-story window in a panic, not long after she gave birth, the Omaha World-Herald reports. The baby was born prematurely and weighed about 2 pounds, according to authorities. Lopez said she thought the girl was stillborn.
The county attorney’s office initially charged Lopez as an adult but later moved her case to juvenile court.
“It wasn’t a planned-out, thought-out process. It was more of a panicked reaction,” Douglas County Attorney Don Kleine said, previously.
The incident occurred last September. Lopez reportedly kept the pregnancy a secret from her family.
Police said Lopez initially told authorities that she did not know she was pregnant, but they later found evidence on her cell phone that she knew she was, according to the reports. Authorities said Lopez’s boyfriend also told them she knew she was pregnant.
According to authorities, she gave birth in her bedroom in the middle of the night.
Here’s more from the Mirror:
While she was in a labour she sent several text messages and a Snapchat photo to her boyfriend, the Omaha World-Herald reports.
One message sent just before 1am read: “Baby I’m having contractions in my lower abs every couple seconds. It hurts so much.” Five minutes later she told him she was in “so much pain” and then a minute later said she wanted it to “stop”.
Shortly after 2.20am she wrote: “It was a girl by the way.”
Lopez, who had been pregnant for about seven months, later asked for help to hide the baby, which was about 14in long.
Authorities said Lopez threw her newborn out the window, and then told her mother what she had done. The mother immediately found the baby, called 911 and tried to perform CPR; however, the baby was pronounced dead at a local hospital.
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A pathologist report indicated that the baby was alive when Lopez threw her out the window, according to the New York Daily News.
It appears that Lopez currently is in prison and will remain there until a group home can be found for her. Local authorities said they have been struggling to find a group home willing to take Lopez because she is seen as a risk, according to the Omaha newspaper.
These tragic situations expose a need for greater awareness of safe haven laws. All 50 states have save haven laws that allow mothers in crisis to leave their newborns in a safe environment, such as a hospital or fire station, without questions or repercussions. These laws have saved hundreds of babies, including the life of pro-life advocate Monica Kelsey, whose mother left her at a safe haven when she was a baby.
If you or someone you know would like more information about relinquishing a newborn child, please call 1-877-796-HOPE or go to www.SafeHavenLaw.com.
