The New York Times Mangles Teen Abortion Story Beyond All Recognition

By Isaac SchorrJul 21st, 2023, 2:11 pm
 
The New York Times building shown at night in NYC

AP Photo/Mark Lennihan

If this writer were to enjoy a popsicle before whittling the remaining stick into a shiv and stabbing an innocent on the street, the headline “Man Who Ate Tasty Summer Treat Gets 5 Years in Jail” would bear as much resemblance to my story as the New York Times headline “Nebraska Teen Who Used Pills to End Pregnancy Gets 90 Days in Jail” does to Celeste Burgess’s.

Much throat-clearing precedes the eventual admission that the headline is a misleading farce.

Readers learn that “the case gained greater attention” after the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization fueled “fears that women, and those who help them, could be prosecuted for abortions, and that their private communications could be used against them.” They learn that a University of Pittsburgh law professor called the case “a harbinger of things to come.” And they learn that Nebraska recently enacted a 12-week ban to supersede the 20-week ban in place when Burgess had her abortion.

But it’s not until paragraph sixteen that they learn that “prosecutors did not charge Celeste Burgess under Nebraska’s abortion law. She pleaded guilty in May to removing or concealing human skeletal remains, a felony. Prosecutors agreed to drop two misdemeanor charges against her: concealing a death and false reporting.”

In fact, they never learn that a provision in the 20-week ban ensured that “no penalty shall be assessed against the woman upon whom the abortion is performed or attempted to be performed,” or that a similar provision is included under the 12-week ban.

The teenager’s mother, Jessica Burgess, did plead guilty to having violated the abortion law after she illegally provided abortion pills to her then 17-year-old daughter when she was around 30 weeks pregnant, over a month past the point when the unborn child would have been viable outside of the womb and 20 weeks after the FDA has approved the use of those pills.

Facebook messages exchanged between the Burgesses showed Celeste remarking about how she was relieved to get the “thing” out of her and Jessica providing instructions on how to take the pills.

After performing the abortion, the Burgesses buried, exhumed, attempted to burn, and again buried the fetus in violation of state law.

Online, prominent progressives promoted the implicit falsehood in the Times headline.

“Republicans LIED when they said they wouldn’t send girls and women to prison for having an abortion,” declared Jon Cooper to his his 1.2 million followers with a screenshot of the piece.

“They swore up and down they wouldn’t send girls and women to prison for having abortions. They lied,” asserted The Atlantic‘s David Frum in a tweet that has been seen by over 1.7 million.

“Ah, a culture of life,” remarked Times columnist Jamelle Bouie.

The Times has a responsibility to correct the record. Whether it fulfills this responsibility will indicate if this was a sloppy or intentional error.

This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.

Filed Under: