TV stations in California blasted a picture of Becker on their news editions. News anchor said that the search was on for a troubled 25-year-old woman who was wanted for the murder of her unborn baby.
Becker slept at the home she was staying in when police arrived.
Becker said in a recent interview that he and his dog were pointed at by the officer. I surrendered after walking out.
Becker had lost a baby at eight months pregnant in California two months before. She was charged with murder of a human fetus because she was struggling with drug addiction and the hospital reported meth in her system.
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California law does not allow for this type of prosecution, and Becker's attorneys argued that there was no evidence of substance use causing the stillbirth. She spent 16 months in jail waiting for her trial to start.
The kind of criminal cases that could become commonplace in the US if the supreme court overturns the abortion law are offered by Becker's nightmare. In the states that don't allow abortion, advocates warn that the losses of pregnancies will be treated as potential crimes. Women have been arrested and charged for their pregnancies even after the law changed.
The National Advocates for Pregnant Women (NAPW), a non-profit group that supported Becker in her legal battle, said that prosecutions will escalate quickly if the court reversed its decision. A lot of people don't know that pregnant people in blue states are facing criminal charges. It requires a rogue district attorney.
Becker was raised in an area 200 miles north-west of Los Angeles. The area has an unemployment rate that is twice the California average, and more than 15% of its residents are poor. It has long been a hub for meth distribution and access to drug rehabilitation and other services is limited.
Becker had struggled with addiction and was homeless at the time of her death.
She was about to give birth to her fourth child when her family called an ambulance to get her to the hospital.
Two hours after she arrived at the hospital she lost the child.
Becker said that staff treated her with suspicion. Becker said in an email that her mother told her that the baby had died. She said she was shocked from the blood loss and the news.
She wondered if she could have saved her baby's life if the hospital had done a C-section. She wondered why she was given blood when she was in distress.
She said that the hospital left her baby on a table at the other end of the room for several hours. Hospital staff called the police.
My baby was taken away from me by the hospital staff. She said that the image of her lying in the hospital bed with her dead son is something she will never forget.
Becker tested positive for meth after the stillbirth was reported as suspicious, but her attorneys say she never consented to a drug test.
Becker was questioned by an officer about her drug use at her mother's house. She was jailed after the police recommended she be charged with murder.
The only prosecutor in California who has filed charges for a stillbirth in the last 30 years was Becker. The year before, Fagundes had filed a murder case against Adora Perez after she gave birth to a stillborn baby at the same hospital and police said meth use had caused the loss.
Californians pledge to protect abortion rights.
Becker was in jail waiting for the trial to start. She said in a recent statement to lawmakers that she was unable to receive proper counseling behind bars because she was afraid her words would be used against her.
Her son was adopted while she was in jail. Two of her children were in the care of a relative.
Section 187 of the California Penal Code states that murder is "the unlawful killing of a human being or a fetus with malice aforethought". fetus was added to the statute in 1970 after a man attacked a pregnant woman and caused a stillbirth. The law doesn't apply to an act "convinced to by the mother of the fetus" and the primary author of the legislation testified that the mention of fetus was only intended for prosecuting a third party's willful assault on a pregnant woman
Fagundes and the police officials who investigated Perez and Becker argued that women should be jailed.
Becker's lawyers argued that she wouldn't be able to be prosecuted. Becker had three different reproductive infections at the time of the stillbirth, which can cause stillbirth. The pathologist who concluded Becker's stillbirth was due to "acute methamphetamine toxicity" admitted in court that he didn't review her medical records before making the determination.
The case was dismissed by a judge.
Adora Perez spent four years in jail before her case was dismissed.
If a woman does any kind of activity that could be considered reckless while she's pregnant, and she loses her fetus, she's up for murder, according to Mary McNamara, Perez's lawyer. It is murder if she works at a dangerous factory while she is pregnant and loses her child. That is murder if she needs cancer treatment that could harm her fetus.
Becker's case is not unique in the US.
The right to abortion was established. More than 1,700 cases in which pregnant people have been criminalized because of the idea that a fetus is a person with rights have been tracked by the National Association for the Preservation of Women. A wide range of cases in which pregnant people faced arrest, prosecution or other criminal or civil consequences based on some action or behavior that law enforcement claimed caused harm to the fetus is estimated.
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If/When/How, a reproductive justice group, said that once prosecutors decide they want to punish someone for ending a pregnant woman's life, they will figure out a way to do so.
Substance use is one of the most common allegations, with mothers facing charges even when there is no evidence of harm to the fetus and in some cases even after they have given birth to a healthy baby.
Becker's arrest was based on medical misinformation and the claims that meth use causes stillbirths were not true, according to two doctor experts. If the courts treat stillbirths as potential crimes, it will require a dramatic expansion of the role of law enforcement in pregnant women.
A coalition of major medical associations, public health and reproductive rights groups filed a brief in support of Becker. One of Becker's attorneys said that it was not pro-life or in the interest of the fetus to criminalize the negative outcomes of pregnancies.
Becker said that women who are addicted and pregnant are afraid of seeking help. Women wonder if they can fix this on their own without anyone else knowing and in time for the baby to come. Becker made a statement. It is hard to fight an addiction alone, and many women are unable to kick their addiction without help.
Becker was in the middle of a drug treatment program when her case was thrown out. There was a small part of me that didn't want to be here anymore. I can leave and go back to my house. Becker knew better than to give up on that commitment.
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She is working towards a community health worker certificate and a public health degree after finishing treatment.
She advocated for state legislation to prevent these types of prosecutions.
She hoped that no woman would ever be prosecuted for losing a baby. I was punished because it could have happened to anyone.
Brian Johnson said that it was hospital policy to notify the coroner's office in a stillbirth after 20 weeks and that it followed reporting requirements.
The police department didn't reply to questions.
The medical associations argued that they were a political position. He noted that the women did not use drugs behind bars, despite his claims that prosecution was the right approach to addiction.
He was asked why he was the only district attorney in the state prosecuting women for stillbirths.
He said he had no immediate plans to refile Becker and Perez cases. It's really dependent on how these two women go about their lives. He said that if they are successful and sober, then they deserve some credit.
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