A Pennsylvania mother and daughter have been charged with numerous crimes after the daughter had an at-home chemical abortion and the two buried the baby’s body in their backyard.
KEY TAKEAWAYS:
- The teenager took abortion pills supplied by her mother at 20 weeks gestation.
- The horrified girl texted her friend about the experience, writing “it’s like a full baby,” and “it’s still moving,” and noting that there was “blood everywhere.”
- Authorities began investigating and found the baby’s body buried in the backyard.
- The mother and daughter are not being charged for the abortion but for other crimes committed at the time.
THE DETAILS:
50-year-old Shannon Jones and her daughter, 18-year-old Sydney Jones, are facing criminal charges after police investigated the circumstances surrounding Sydney’s abortion.
District Attorney Heather Adams stressed that the two are not being charged for the abortion itself, saying they cannot legally do so. Shannon is facing the following charges: endangering the welfare of children, the corruption of minors, and criminal conspiracy to conceal the death of a child.
Sydney is facing charges in juvenile court, as she was still a minor when the incident occurred. She is charged with concealing the death of a child and abuse of corpse.
Officials were unable to determine whether the baby had been born alive; if they had been able to conclude that he had been, the press release from Adams stated that the pair could have faced homicide charges as well.
“I want to be abundantly clear that these defendants are not being charged with performing an abortion – as the law prevents us from doing – but for their actions after the abortion,” Adams said. “Additionally, one of the defendants is being charged with endangering the other, a juvenile, before the abortion by purchasing abortion medication for the juvenile’s use against recommended instructions which placed her in grave danger.”
Neighbors are supporting the charges, saying it’s an appropriate way to handle the horrific situation.
“They’re appropriate, yeah. I wish it would be more. As a Christian, I feel that an unborn baby was murdered,” Lucretia Breneman told WHP. “[I]t’s kind of barbaric to me to treat an unborn baby that way.”
Another neighbor, Miranda Vargas, said, “She was scared. She was underage, but mom should’ve known better.”
THE BACKSTORY:
The baby, ultimately determined to be a boy, was born in 2024. Sydney was 20 weeks pregnant, and after allegedly being turned away from a local abortion facility, Shannon ordered abortion pills for her daughter.
There was at least one witness, who communicated with police about what happened. After Sydney was given the abortion pills, she texted the witness about what happened, with messages like, “It just now came out,” and “it’s like a full baby,” and “it’s still moving.” Sydney also sent pictures of the baby to the witness, adding “excuse my blood everywhere.”
Sydney also said she was afraid to touch the baby, because he was still moving — though when asked if that meant the baby was alive, Sydney replied, “no, cause its lungs aren’t developed.”
She claimed the movements were just reflexes as opposed to “meaningful” movement, and later added that she kept the baby’s body in a box underneath her bed for several weeks before finally burying him.
For her part, Shannon told her daughter afterwards she was paranoid of being discovered, texting, “we’re either going to get arrested or I’m gonna get divorced.”
It’s not clear what tipped the police off, but they applied for a search warrant in March, and found the baby’s body buried in the yard of the family’s Lancaster County home.
