Charged With Murder For Attempted Suicide

A woman who attempted suicide while pregnant is facing a murder charge in Indiana.

After learning her boyfriend was already married and was abandoning her, a U.S. immigrant from China attempted suicide while pregnant, and is now facing a murder charge in the death of her newborn daughter. Bei Bei Shuai, 34, tried to kill herself last December by swallowing rat poison pellets, but was taken to hospital where the poison was counteracted. She gave birth on New Year's Eve, and her baby died shortly thereafter. Months later, prosecutors in Indiana arrested the woman and charged her with murder and attempted feticide. U.S. women’s groups and civil liberties organizations are up in arms about the implications for the rights of pregnant women. Alexa Kolbi-Molinas, a lawyer with the American Civil Liberties Union, says: "If we allowed the state to put a woman in jail for anything that could pose a risk to her pregnancy, there would be nothing to stop the police putting in jail a woman who has a drink of wine or who smokes. So where do you draw the line?"