Mother escapes jail over ‘Caesarean murder’

UTAH woman charged with murder for allegedly delaying a Caesarean section that could have saved one of her twins has pleaded guilty to child endangerment.

Under the plea bargain, prosecutors are recommending no prison time for 28-year-old Melissa Ann Rowland.

They said they dropped the murder charge based on her “mental health history”.

“We don’t think two felony convictions is a slap on the hand,” Salt Lake City District Attorney David Yocom said yesterday. “We felt this was a reasonable and just result.” Sentencing was postponed until April 29.

Mr Yocom would not disclose details of Rowland’s mental health.

Rowland said she never intended to kill her baby and was not informed she needed immediate surgery to save the babies’ lives. She disputed prosecutors’ allegations she was worried about scarring, saying she had two previous children through C-sections.

In court, she admitted using cocaine in the weeks before the C-section that produced a stillborn boy.

The second child, a girl who survived and has been adopted, had cocaine and alcohol in her system.

There is no other known instance in the US in which a woman was charged with murder for refusing or delaying a C-section.

The National Organisation for Women, Planned Parenthood and the American Civil Liberties Union said prosecutors went too far in charging her with murder, calling the case a backdoor effort to undermine abortion rights and an attack on a poor, possibly disturbed person.