A Nebraska mother will spend two years in prison for giving her teenage daughter an abortion pill and helping her destroy her unborn child.
Jessica Burgess, 42, pleaded guilty in July She was charged with several charges, including tampering with a corpse, false reporting and abortion after at least 20 weeks of pregnancy.
Burgess’ then 17-year-old daughter was in her third trimester of pregnancy at the time.
Celeste Burgess, now 19, will also serve a prison term after being sentenced in July to 90 days in prison, suspended for two years, for incinerating and burying a fetus.
The mother, who lives in Norfolk, Nebraska, about two hours northwest of Omaha, ordered the abortion pills online and gave them to her daughter in the spring of 2022, officials said.
Norfolk authorities said the women discussed terminating the pregnancy and destroying evidence in Facebook messages. Authorities obtained a search warrant to access the exchange following a tip-off, and police subsequently discovered the remains of a fetus buried in a field in north Norfolk.
In a Facebook message, Jessica Burgess instructed her daughter how to take medication to terminate the pregnancy, according to court records. In another post, Celeste Burgess wrote that she was “finally able to wear jeans.”
with post wire
