Bei Bei Shuai

Bei Bei Shuai is a Chinese immigrant to the United States who became the subject of international public attention from 2011 to 2013, when the authorities of the state of Indiana charged her with murder and attempted feticide after her suicide attempt allegedly resulted in the death of the fetus with which she was pregnant. In Britain, The Guardian described Shuai's case, as well as those of other women who lose their pregnancies in cases of maternal drug addiction or a suicide attempt, as part of a "creeping criminalisation of pregnancy across America".

Criminal proceedings On 14 March 2011, Shuai was charged with the murder and attempted feticide of her child, and was jailed for 435 days.

Shuai declined a plea deal that would have her plead guilty to the feticide charge (with a sentence of up to 20 years imprisonment) in return for the withdrawal of the murder charge. She faced a trial for murder with a possible sentence of 45 years to life imprisonment. In June 2012, the prosecution filed a motion to admonish her lawyer, Linda Pence, for prejudicing the potential jury pool by conducting a public campaign for the support of her client. This caused alarm among defense lawyers nationwide, one of whom criticized the motion as a possible attempt at intimidation or to prevent Pence from raising money for her client; chief prosecutor Terry Curry denied this.

In 2013 Shuai pled guilty to a misdemeanor charge of criminal recklessness and was released, having been sentenced to time served. Prosecutor Terry Curry said of the law under which she was initially charged for murder: "There was never any intention to monitor pregnancies."

Legal context Shuai's case was the first in the history of Indiana in which a woman was prosecuted for murder due to a pregnancy loss after a suicide attempt while pregnant. Recent similar cases in other states include that of Rennie Gibbs (charged with murder in Mississippi for having a stillborn daughter while addicted to cocaine) and at least 40 cases of pregnant women charged in Alabama under a "chemical endangerment" statute originally intended to protect children from the fumes of illicit meth labs run by their parents.