Questions raised over why pregnant woman’s murder isn’t charged as double homicide

Last month, a former Massachusetts police officer was arrested and charged with murdering his pregnant girlfriend — a woman he had groomed and raped when she was a minor. Yet questions are now being raised as to why justice isn’t being offered for the murder of her preborn child as well.

“There were two deaths here, and the perpetrator should be charged accordingly,” said Massachusetts attorney Tom Harvey of the Pro-Life Legal Defense Fund.

Roger Severino, Vice President of Domestic Policy at the Heritage Foundation, added, “It is hard to imagine a more clear-cut case for enforcing federal law for protecting unborn children than this one, when the very existence of the unborn child was the very evidence against this monster.”

Sandra Birchmore met Matthew Farwell in 2010 when she was just 12 years old. She was interested in a law enforcement career, and joined the Police Explorers program with the Stoughton Police Department, where Farwell was an officer. He was 27 years old, and allegedly began grooming her immediately. When she was 15, he began raping her, and that abuse continued until her death. He was also allegedly physically violent toward her on numerous occasions.

When Birchmore became pregnant, she informed Farwell, now 38, that the baby was his; he reacted with violence. In a text message, he said, “I literally have nothing to say right now[;] how could you express that in text when I said I don’t appreciate it,” and then called her “truly the worst person on the face of the earth.” He also allegedly shoved her and placed her into a chokehold.

A friend of Birchmore’s then informed the Stoughton Police Department about their illicit relationship, though the department employee took no action. Instead, they told Farwell about the report that was made, and Farwell instructed the employee to keep the information quiet. On February 1, 2021, he allegedly strangled Birchmore, and then tied her body to a door handle, hoping to make her death appear a suicide.

While Farwell is being charged with Birchmore’s murder, he has not been charged with the murder of their child. A front-page article for the Boston Herald is now questioning why the preborn baby is being denied justice.

READ: Family member of murdered pregnant woman wants double homicide charge

Despite acknowledging that Birchmore’s pregnancy was the instigating factor into Farwell’s decision to kill her, prosecutors have chosen not to charge him with violating the 2003 Unborn Victims of Violence Act, also known as “Laci and Conner’s Law.” It was passed after Scott Peterson was convicted of killing his pregnant wife, Laci, and their preborn son, Conner.

In a press conference, acting U.S. Attorney Joshua Levy said, “Ms. Birchmore was very excited about becoming a mother: buying baby clothes and other items, taking precautions to ensure the health of her new child. … But Mr. Farwell did not share in that excitement. It’s alleged Mr. Farwell reacted quite negatively to the news that Sandra Birchmore was pregnant with his child and he acted angrily.”

Boston FBI Assistant Special Agent in Charge Steve Kelleher likewise acknowledged the death of Birchmore’s child, saying, “Matthew Farwell’s gun and badge did not grant him authority to violate the Constitution and certainly didn’t entitle him to sexually exploit, abuse and rape a child before killing her and her unborn baby in an attempt to cover up his alleged crime.”

Levy could decide to add more charges, but as of now, it seems unlikely that he will, and his office refused to give any statement as to why they didn’t charge Farwell with the death of Birchmore’s child.

“It will take political pressure for them to charge what they should have done from the very beginning,” Severino said. “Under the current administration, there isn’t a snowball’s chance that they would support an Unborn Victims of Violence Act charge given their radical pro-abortion policies.”

Editor’s Note: If you are a victim of domestic violence, please visit thehotline.org or call 1-800-799-SAFE.

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