Charged With Murder After a Stillbirth: California's Pregnancy Criminalisation Test Case
Case summary
Becker delivered a stillborn son at Adventist Health Hanford on September 10, 2019. Kings County District Attorney Keith Fagundes charged her with murder under Penal Code s. 187, alleging the stillbirth was caused by her methamphetamine use — the first California prosecution of its kind in three decades. Unable to raise $2 million bail, she spent 16 months in jail before being released on her own recognisance on March 9, 2021. On May 21, 2021, a Kings County Superior Court judge dismissed the murder charge, finding the prosecution had not shown she consumed drugs knowing it could kill her child. The case became a leading reference point for advocates opposing the criminalisation of pregnancy and addiction, and is included here as an example of a woman prosecuted over a medical condition arising from pregnancy.
Mental-health context
Becker had struggled for years with methamphetamine addiction — a recognised medical condition — and was distraught to learn her baby had died. The prosecution treated her substance use disorder as the basis for a homicide charge rather than as a health condition; California's Attorney General filed an amicus brief opposing the prosecution, and medical evidence showed no higher incidence of stillbirth among methamphetamine-exposed pregnancies than in a control group.
Status / outcome
Held 16 months pre-trial; murder charge dismissed May 21, 2021
Sources
- https://www.pregnancyjusticeus.org/press/murder-charge-against-chelsea-becker-for-experiencing-a-stillbirth-is-dismissed/
- https://abc30.com/post/chelsea-becker-kings-county-murder-case-court/10672631/
- https://www.aclunorcal.org/news/imprisoned-stillbirth-pregnancy-criminalization-california-and-future-abortion/
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