A New Mexico teenager is facing first-degree murder charges after police said she locked herself in a hospital bathroom, gave birth and then threw her newborn son in a trash can.
Artesia Police Department said Alexee Trevizo, 19, of New Mexico, gave birth to the baby boy on Jan. 27 at the Artesia General Hospital in Artesia, New Mexico, according to KOAT News.
An autopsy of the newborn determined that he died of asphyxiation, the Mirror reports.
In late January, authorities said Trevizo went to the hospital complaining of back pain. When a test revealed that she was pregnant, the young woman locked herself in a hospital bathroom for a lengthy period of time and refused to come out, according to police.
Eventually the door was opened, and hospital staff said they noticed a lot of blood on the floor, the Daily Star reports.
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Here’s more from KOAT:
Staff checked the toilet and top of the trash and found nothing. However, when the trash bag was taken out during cleanup, an employee noticed how heavy it was than normal.
Two nurses then observed the bag and found a newborn boy inside that was cold and showed no signs of life, according to a court record.
According to the Mirror, police body camera footage from the hospital appears to show Trevizo admitting to abandoning her baby.
“It came out of me, I put it in the bag. In the trash bag. I’m sorry, mom,” the young woman says in the video. While appearing to be confused and traumatized, she also repeatedly says the baby was not crying, the report states.
Attorney Gary C. Mitchell, who is representing Trevizo, said she did not know she was pregnant prior to giving birth, and she did not kill the baby.
Infanticide and infant abandonment are problems across the world.
Like abortion, infanticide destroys the life of a unique and valuable child who is fully dependent on his/her parents to survive. The pro-life movement works to protect newborns from infanticide as well as abortion by supporting safe haven laws, adoption and resources to help pregnant and parenting families.
In America, all 50 states have safe haven laws that allow mothers to safely surrender their newborns to authorities, often at a police station or hospital, without repercussions as long as the infant is unharmed. Several states also have baby boxes installed in fire stations where women can safely surrender newborns. Typically, laws allow safe surrender within a certain time limit, such as up to 30 days after the baby’s birth.
