A California woman was arrested on murder charges Wednesday after an autopsy found an extremely high level of methamphetamine in her stillborn baby’s body.
The Blaze reports Chelsea Becker, 25, of Hanford, California, had been told that the drug could harm her unborn child, but she allegedly used it anyway.
Becker reportedly gave birth to a stillborn baby boy in September. Medical professionals involved with the child’s delivery suspected that something was wrong, according to the report.
Later, the Kings County coroner performed an autopsy on the baby’s body and found that “the baby was well over the toxic limit of methamphetamine even for an adult, with six times the toxic limit in his system,” the report states.
ABC 30 reports police found Becker on Wednesday and arrested her on murder charges.
“Ms. Becker had been notified of what drug use could do if she was pregnant or while she was pregnant … about the harmful effects it could have on a child,” Hanford Police Sgt. Justin Vallin said.
According to police, Becker has struggled with drug abuse for years, and she has three older children who were removed from her custody.
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Some states provide justice for unborn babies who are victims of crimes under fetal homicide laws. Most states recognize the unlawful killing of an unborn child as homicide in at least some circumstances, according to the National Right to Life Committee. All of these laws include exceptions for abortion.
California: California Penal Code § 187(a) says, “Murder is the unlawful killing of a human being, or a fetus, with malice aforethought.” The words “or a fetus” were added by the legislature in 1970. The California Supreme Court later interpreted “fetus” to apply “beyond the embryonic stage of seven to eight weeks.” (People v. Davis, 1994) In addition, Penal Code § 190.2(3) makes a defendant eligible for capital punishment if convicted of more than one murder, and the California Supreme Court ruled that fetal homicide is included under this provision as well (People v. Dennis, 1998).
Earlier this year, Democrat lawmakers in New York and Rhode Island repealed their fetal homicide laws as part of sweeping pro-abortion legislation allowing abortions for basically any reason up to birth.
