In a case that was closely watched by abortion rights activists as several states moved to restrict access to abortion, Celeste Burgess, 18, of northeastern Nebraska, was sentenced on Thursday to 90 days in jail and two years of probation for burning and burying a fetus she had aborted with the assistance of her mother.
After entering a guilty plea to concealing or leaving a dead body, Burgess received her sentence in Madison County. In an arrangement with prosecutors, two further misdemeanor charges of false reporting and concealing the death of another person were dismissed.
“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.
Burgess and mom team
Burgess and her mother, 42-year-old Norfolk resident Jessica Burgess, are charged with conspiring to end the pregnancy. The abortion, which occurred long into the third trimester, was against the then-current legislation of Nebraska, which forbade abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy.
According to authorities, Jessica Burgess bought abortion pills online and gave them to her daughter, who was 17 at the time, in the spring of 2022.
The mother admitted guilt to delivering an illegal abortion, making false reports, and tampering with human skeletal remains earlier this month.
Charges of hiding someone else’s death and performing an abortion without a doctor’s permission were dropped in exchange for her plea. On September 22, she will be sentenced.
According to the arrest document, detectives with the Norfolk Police Department began probing into the abortion after receiving a tip.
Police obtained a search warrant to access Facebook chats between the two, in which, according to the prosecution, the women discussed aborting the baby and erasing evidence.
In a field north of Norfolk, police later discovered the burnt fetus bones.
Choosing jeans over a fetus?
According to court documents, Jessica Burgess directed her daughter on how to take the tablets to stop the pregnancy in one of the Facebook chats. Celeste Burgess allegedly wrote, “I will finally be able to wear jeans,” the documents stated.
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