A teen who performed an illegal 29-week abortion and burned the remains of the baby with help from her mother was sentenced to 90 days in prison earlier this week.
Celeste Burgess, 19, pleaded guilty to a felony charge of removing, concealing, or abandoning a dead human body.
Her mother, Jessica Burgess, 42, pleaded guilty to helping her then-17-year-old daughter destroy the baby’s remains.
The mother also obtained the abortion pills online.
According to OAN:
“According to court documents filed in Nebraska’s Madison County, Burgess was sentenced to 90 days in jail and two years of probation. Under the plea agreement, misdemeanor charges of false reporting and concealing a death were dropped.”
“The Court specifically finds that while probation is appropriate, confinement is necessary because, without this confinement, it would depreciate the seriousness of the crime or promote disrespect for the law,” the judge’s order read.
The mother pleaded guilty to providing an abortion after 20 weeks of gestation, false reporting, and tampering with human skeletal remains.
However, charges of concealing the death of another person and abortion were dropped by prosecutors as part of a plea deal.
She will be sentenced on September 22.
The teenager had given birth to a stillborn baby in a bathtub at her home, police were told.
Fox News reported, “After the teen aborted the 29-week-old fetus, the two burned the remains and buried them in a field north of Norfolk in northeastern Nebraska.
“Authorities later found the burned fetus.”
The teen initially told police she had a miscarriage and that her mother had put the body in a bag in the back of her van.
But investigators dug up the corpse and found “thermal injuries” consistent with being burned.
Police obtained a warrant for the mother and daughter’s Facebook messages, revealing they planned to perform a home abortion and dispose of the baby.
According to one message, Celeste Burgess talked “about how she can’t wait to get the ‘thing’ out of her body.”
Since 2010, abortions have been illegal in Nebraska after 20 weeks of pregnancy.
In May, Republican Gov. Jim Pillen signed legislation banning the procedure after 12 weeks gestation.
READ: Democrats Demand Federal Funds to Train Healthcare Workers to Become Abortionists
