Attorneys Say Abortion Laws for Minors Contributed to Teen Murdering Her Child

A girl, 17, was on trial in Fort Worth. Her lawyers said that her strict parenting and the fact that she couldn't have an abortion as a minor made her hide her pregnancy and make plans to kill the baby right after giving birth.

The girl has pleaded true to the charge of capital murder, which is the same as admitting guilty in adult court. The girl should have been sent to jail for 40 years for hurting the baby girl so badly that she died, the prosecutors told the jury.

In September 2021, the killing took place at the girl's house. A scary 911 call played in court showed the girl screaming "I don't want it" in the background, while her sister fought back tears to tell the operator what was going on.

Abortion Laws for MinorsPhoto bynwaonline

A nurse told the police that the teen told them she gave birth on the toilet and that the baby may have hit its head. The girl did describe injuries on her face and head, but the nurse said the child's injuries did not match up with what she said.

After the baby died, Cook Children's Medical Center told the cops that the injuries did not look like they were caused by an accident.

Police in Fort Worth Detective Christopher Parker showed the court a string of texts and Snapchat messages in which the girl and the baby's father, a boy who lived down the street, talked about how scared they were to tell their parents they were pregnant and what they could do to end it.

"What if I try to have a miscarriage?" the girl asked in a text message when she found out she was pregnant.

After a month, she asked him to help her punch herself in the stomach. And the boy wrote a month before the baby was born, "We're going to have to kill it, as much as I hate to say it." This made it look like he agreed with the choice to kill the baby.

Lisa Herrick, a lawyer for the defense, said that the girl came from a strict religious home and was afraid that her parents would kick her out if she got pregnant. The girl had never been taught about sex, and it was clear that she wanted an abortion, which is against the law in Texas without a parent's permission.

Parker said that after that, the investigation was very hard because he had to go through a lot of text messages and try to talk to witnesses, like the boy, but he couldn't find him at school or at home.

He did not say anything about the girl being guilty until November 2023. He told the judge that he should have filed it much earlier, but he didn't because he had a lot of other cases to deal with. The time didn't change any facts of the case, like the fact that he didn't think there was a charge that could be proven against the child's father. When the girl's lawyers spoke to the jury for the first time, they said that the child's father had "aged out" of the youth justice system and could no longer be charged.

Defense lawyer Frank Adler asked Parker many questions about what proof he needed to look for years, implying that the detective had lost track of the only murder case with a death sentence at stake.

Around that time, the girl had another child with a different man. The lawyer for her said she had done everything Child Protective Services asked of her with that child and that the rules for her visitations were "tapering off" when she was arrested for murder.

She is now on birth control and has had her first sex education class. Herrick said she had been a great detention resident and asked the judges, "What would the benefit of prison be?"

The Source:

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