The California Supreme Court will not stop the murder prosecution of a woman who had used methamphetamine and whose fetus was then stillborn.
In taking the action, California’s High Court rejected a rare challenge by the state’s attorney general whose office normally represents county prosecutors when their cases are appealed.
But AG Xavier Becerra, tapped by President-elect Joe Biden to head the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, is also a supporter of reproductive rights and in a letter to justices said that fear of prosecution may prevent pregnant women from seeking addiction services. He said the case could also prompt extra scrutiny by law enforcement on miscarriages and stillbirths.
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Chelsea Becker of Hanford has been in jail on $2 billion bail since the September 2019 stillbirth. Police say methamphetamine was found in the fetus and that Becker, who was 8½ months pregnant at the time of the stillbirth, had admitted recently using the drug.
