‘Delete Facebook’ Trends After Nebraska Cops Use Messages to Prosecute Teen for an Abortion
reported that private messages on the platform were used to prosecute a then-17-year-old girl for allegedly having an abortion.According to Forbes, the teen, who is being tried as an adult, and her mother, 41, were charged in July “with allegedly removing, concealing, or abandoning a dead human body,” which is a felony, as well as with two misdemeanors: concealing the death of another person and false reporting. The mother was later with “performing or attempting an abortion on a pregnancy at more than 20 weeks and performing an abortion as a non-licensed doctor.”Per Forbes, the Norfolk Police Department “received a tip claiming [the teen] had miscarried in April at 23 weeks of pregnancy and secretly buried the fetus with her mother's help.” The teen told police that she miscarried; however, Nebraska authorities continued to investigate, eventually serving Facebook a search warrant for the private messages between mother and daughter.