Facebook, has been on the receiving end of a backlash as Netizens express disappointment that the social media giant breeched the privacy of a teen after granting the cops access to her chats with her mother on abortion.
Gatekeepers News reports that with the #DeleteFacebook, angry users urges women to delete their accounts after the mother who is from Nebraska is being charged for allegedly helping her daughter with an illegal abortion.
Detective Ben McBride of the Norfolk Police Investigations Unit, on April 26, began investigating claims that Jessica Burgess, 41, assisted her daughter, Celeste Burgess, who was 17 at the time, with an abortion.
In a sworn affidavit, McBride said Celeste “had given birth prematurely supposedly to a stillborn child.” She and her mother then allegedly “buried the child together” and later told people that “they needed to dig the child’s body up and then burn it.”
After getting medical records, according to the affidavit, Detective McBride discovered that Celeste was approximately 23 weeks and 2 days pregnant at the time. She was allegedly due on July 3.
The mother and daughter said they received help from a man named Tanner Barnhill, 22, who allegedly helped bury the fetus outside his parent’s home.
On April 29, Detective McBride said Barnhill showed him where the fetus was buried and told authorities that Jessica and Celeste allegedly “tried to burn the body of the fetus prior to it being buried,” the officer wrote.
Detective McBride added that Celeste, who has since turned 18, told authorities she realized she suffered the stillborn birth on April 22 after looking at her Facebook messages. McBride said that on June 7 he “obtained and served a search warrant to Facebook/Meta Platforms for information” on Jessica and Celeste’s accounts.
In their exchange, according to the detective’s affidavit, Jessica tells Celeste that she received pills for Celeste. They allegedly discussed that Celeste would take one pill, wait 24 hours, then take the second pill. Celeste also “talks about how she can’t wait to get the ‘thing’ out of her body and reaffirms with J. Burgess that they will burn the evidence afterwards,” Detective McBride wrote.
A friend of Celeste’s reached out to the County Attorney’s Office on June 14 and told authorities she was there when Celeste took the first pill, per the affidavit.
Jessica is now facing five charges, according to additional court documents obtained by the outlet: human skeletal remains (prohibited acts), concealing the death of another person, false information, abortion, and abortion by other than licensed physician.
Celeste is also charged with human skeletal remains, concealing the death of another person, and false information.
In it’s defence, Facebook said: “Nothing in the valid warrants we received from local law enforcement in early June, prior to the Supreme Court decision, mentioned abortion.
“The warrants concerned charges related to a criminal investigation and court documents indicate that police at the time were investigating the case of a stillborn baby who was burned and buried, not a decision to have an abortion.”
It added, “Both of these warrants were originally accompanied by non-disclosure orders, which prevented us from sharing any information about them. The orders have now been lifted.”
