Chelsea Becker, 26, has been in a Kings County jail since her arrest in November 2019, unable to raise $2 million bail. The case has outraged advocates of pregnant women who say overzealous prosecutors are trying to punish someone who needs treatment, not prison time, and they hope the charges will soon be thrown out. AdvertisementBecker had successfully given birth to three children and had no reason to believe that meth use would cause a stillbirth, Arshack said. In California, lawmakers amended the state murder statute to include a fetus after the California Supreme Court in 1970 overturned the conviction of a man who had beaten a pregnant woman, causing her to lose the baby. But attempts in California in the 1990s to use the law to prosecute pregnant women failed.

Source: Los Angeles Times March 09, 2021 09:22 UTC