Bei Bei is free!

[AtroposHeart]

For those of you who do not know Bei Bei was a woman who while heavily pregnant tried to commit suicide by drinking rat poison. She survived, but lost the pregnancy. She was arrested for feticide and imprisoned.

This was a thread on the old Free Jinger, that caused an incident when Koolaiddrinkingmama/Mamamilkshake/Hestia or whatever praised this act and when other members got on it her about it and she threatened to send a report to yuku. This is was one of the main triggers that got us to switch sites.

Anyway, I just heard on the National Advocates for Pregnant Women facebook that she is finally free!

Thank you to all who wrote petitions and supported her and the organization!

EDIT

I made a mistake she is out on bail, she will go to trial soon.

I am very sorry for my mistake

[JesusFightClub]

Fantastic! I am so happy to hear she is free.

[ilovetchotchkes]

OH thank G-d.

This THIS is why "personhood" amendments are so fucking dangerous.

[rmac3]

She is not free she is just out on bail, she goes on trial Dec 3.

[Eclipse]

I am glad she is out on bail. I am worried though, especially given the Court of Appeals' decision that pregnant women are no different than 3rd parties when it comes to ending a pregnancy that she is going to be found guilty as the law currently stands. The law is really quite scary and the ACLU is quite right that

any pregnant woman could be prosecuted for doing [or attempting] anything that may put her health at risk, regardless of the outcome of the pregnancy.

This is the perfect example of a slippery slope.

Suicide and attempted suicide are public health issues. People contemplating suicide or who change their minds after attempting suicide need help. You don't want to create situation where a pregnant woman has taken poison, pills, cut herself and then changes her mind but is afraid to seek help because of these laws. I helped save a pregnant friend's life in university after she tried to commit suicide and changed her mind. She needed immediate medical help and if she had to worry that she could be charged with murder, she might not have changed her mind. It was one of the scariest nights of my life and even worse for my friend. My heart goes out to this woman.

[YPestis]

She tried to commit suicide with rat poison which is a common way to kill yourself in China. For Some reason the authorities thought since she took rat poison that she wanted to end pregnancy not realizing the cultural background for her mode of suicide. Of course this law Really makes me angry. It appears once you're pregnant your body isn't your own, anything that is construed as harming your body is now a crime. When is the last time a suicide attempt ruled a crime and not a cry for help?

[ilovetchotchkes]

She tried to commit suicide with rat poison which is a common way to kill yourself in China. For Some reason the authorities thought since she took rat poison that she wanted to end pregnancy not realizing the cultural background for her mode of suicide. Of course this law Really makes me angry. It appears once you're pregnant your body isn't your own, anything that is construed as harming your body is now a crime. When is the last time a suicide attempt ruled a crime and not a cry for help?

This is what bothers me the most. I have a few friends who have made attempts and all of them thankfully have been either found in time, or someone caught on before they were going to do it. They've all expressed relief that they did not die. All of them and one of them has depression so bad that electroshock hasn't helped.

I think there's a serious gap of help in assistance for PRE-partum depression ~ most people don't realize that hormones can be utterly overwhelming at that time and especially if its your first child, or you are going to be a single mother, or have no support from the baby's dad... its very easy to get utterly emotionally overwhelmed and dangerously depressed.