Kings County woman speaks out after being prosecuted for murder after stillbirth

KINGS COUNTY, Calif. (KFSN) -- "They said that I was under arrest for homicide."

At 25 years old in 2019, Chelsea Becker from Hanford had a stillbirth.

It was her 4th pregnancy and after the heartbreak of losing her baby boy, faced a murder charge.

Methamphetamine was detected in the baby, so the hospital notified Kings County District Attorney Keith Fagundes.

He prosecuted Becker, making him the first California DA in three decades to bring a prosecution for stillbirth.

"The word fetus is in our murder statute with the exception for abortion, and it had to be therapeutic abortion under a doctor's care," Fagundes said. "It's not unheard of. It was about drug abuse to a healthy, viable fetus."

The district medical examiner said drug use caused the death of the baby.

Becker's attorney argued three unrelated infections were to blame and that there's no scientific evidence meth ends pregnancies.

RELATED: Judge dismisses murder case against Kings Co. woman who used meth before stillbirth

"This may have been an act that I contributed to, but this does not mean I intended for my child to die," Becker said.

A judge dismissed the case for lack of evidence in May of 2021. Becker says she faced a challenging childhood and struggled with drug addiction.

"I kind of ignored I had a problem, I felt that I was in control," she said.

Despite the dismissal of the case, Fagundes continues to defend his decision to prosecute Becker.

"If these women were to inject their one-day-old baby with a needle with these drugs, everyone would be up in arms," he said.

Since Roe v Wade in 1973, more than 1,700 pregnancy-related arrests or prosecutions have taken place in the United States. But after being overturned in June of this year, advocates for pregnant women are concerned.

"We expect more of these cases in a post-Dobbs world," says Dana Sussman with the National Advocates for Pregnant Women. "We think that prosecutors will feel even more emboldened than they have been to police pregnancy."

Becker says it's crucial for women who struggle with addiction to have the proper resources and will stand by those who need support.

"At the end of the day, like, I'm the one that lives with the loss, and that can only motivate me to do better," she said.