Facebook turned over messages that detailed a mother and daughter’s illegal abortion plot.
The platform was served a warrant from authorities in Nebraska for chat messages between 41-year-old Jessica Burgess and her 17-year-old daughter Celeste. The women have been under investigation for performing the illegal abortion since April before Roe v. Wade was overturned.
According to prosecutors, a friend of Celeste tipped off investigators that the girl’s mother had given her abortion pills when she was over 20 weeks pregnant. Jessica and Celeste then burned and buried the fetus.
In the Facebook chats, Jessica referred to the pills she ordered and instructed Celeste, who was 17 at the time, to take the medication 24 hours apart.
Before Roe v. Wade was overturned, Nebraska law stated that abortion is illegal at 20 weeks. Celeste took the abortion pills and miscarried when she was 23 weeks.
In June, the mother and daughter were charged with a felony count of removing, concealing, or abandoning a body and two misdemeanor counts of concealing the death of another person and false reporting. However, once the messages were reviewed in July, Jessica and Celeste were charged with performing or attempting an abortion at more than 20 weeks and performing an abortion as a non-licensed physician.
The case has raised new concerns regarding how tech companies may help prosecutors in a post-Roe v. Wade legal system pursue those who seek out abortions in areas where they are illegal. The majority of user data is stored by Facebook unencrypted on its servers, which enables the company to access it in response to a warrant.
Elizabeth Nash, a state policy analyst at the Guttmacher Institute, a nonprofit group that fights for reproductive rights, said investigations like this would become the new norm.
Both women have pleaded not guilty to the charges. It is unclear if the remains of the fetus were found and are part of the evidence against the mother and daughter.
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