Abortion Snitching Is Already Sending People to Jail
(lengthy, disturbing, unsurprising article. very important resources and links at the bottom)
(the explicit linking of nazi tactics and the WOMAN-HATING abortion snitches is horrifying, but unsurprising)
Abortion Snitching Is Already Sending People to Jail
8/19/2023 by Morgan Carmen
In places where abortion is banned, women must rely even more on social and familial networks. But with greater reliance, comes greater risk.
Police on bicycles monitor protesters as they march and chant in Atlanta on July 23, 2022, in opposition to Georgia’s six-week abortion ban, H.B. 481. (Megan Varner / Getty Images)
Last month, Celeste Burgess was sentenced to 90 days in prison after taking abortion pills when she was 17. Celeste was charged with removing, concealing or abandoning a human body; concealing the death of another; and false reporting, after burying her miscarriage with the help of her mother, Jessica. The story of Celeste and her mother—who helped her get the pills and will be sentenced next month—went national. Most media attention centered on local police’s access to Facebook messages between the two, and for good reason: Companies like Meta amass intimate information—including but not limited to messages, location data, browsing patterns, phone numbers and online searches—that may be accessed by law enforcement. This case was seen as a harbinger of intimate privacy violations to come. But this case also exemplifies a disturbing phenomenon in the genesis of abortion prosecutions: friends and community members reporting on each other.
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As reproductive healthcare becomes more and more restricted after the fall of Roe, abortion access is increasingly a matter of one’s own resources and social networks. Laws expressly prohibiting abortions are predicted to push more people towards later term and self-managed abortion—which is precisely what happened in the Burgess case. Between 2006 and 2020, 1,300 women were prosecuted on charges associated with endangering a fetus. Most cases involved suspected drug use during pregnancy, but some arose out of a refusal to follow medical advice or attempted abortion. Now that states can target intentional termination directly, and prioritize fetal personhood, these charges are predicted to rise in frequency.
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In fact, the If/When/How report also found that, of the surveyed criminal cases, 26 percent were reported to police by friends, relatives and intimate partners. Eighteen percent were brought to law enforcement by “other” means, which includes anonymous reports (presumably made by individuals who fall into the ‘friends, relatives and partners’ category, among others). While the majority of investigations in the If/When/How report focused on individuals who self-managed abortions—half of whom exclusively used abortion pills—one-quarter centered on those who helped others self-manage abortions (like Celeste’s mom, Jessica Burgess). Of those prosecuted for self-managing their abortions, most did so during their second or third trimesters.
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Stories of abortion snitching are not new.
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Abortion snitching mirrors historically successful means of social control, and as criminalization continues to increase across the 50 states, it is reasonable to expect environments of heightened fear and reinforced state power. If you, or anyone you know, is subject to investigation, arrest or incarceration for activities during pregnancy, please contact the Abortion Defense Network (ADN) and/or the Repro Legal Defense Fund. ADN connects those in need with attorneys and organizations like the Fund that help pay for bail, attorneys’ fees, expert witnesses, social workers, commissary, cell phones, and other costs associated with pregnancy criminalization. If you have any questions about abortion laws in your state, visit If/When/How’s Repro Legal Helpline.
https://msmagazine.com/2023/08/19/celeste-burgess-abortion-snitching-privacy-police-illegal/
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