The grandmother and mother of an aborted baby discovered buried in a Pennsylvania backyard earlier this year are facing criminal charges for their actions surrounding the death of the child following the younger woman’s at-home chemical abortion and both women burying the baby in their backyard.
The baby’s grandmother, Shannon Jones, 50, of Lancaster, Pa., is charged with endangering the welfare of children, corruption of minors, and criminal conspiracy to conceal the death of a child. She had supplied abortion pills to her then minor daughter at 20 weeks gestation in her daughter’s pregnancy.
The mother of the baby, Sydney Jones, is now 18, and is charged as a juvenile with concealing the death of a child and abuse of a corpse.
Authorities have stressed the two are not being charged for conducting the abortion, rather for their actions following the abortion.
[Click here to subscribe to Pregnancy Help News!]
An affidavit released by Pennsylvania investigators in March of this year stated that a 17-year-old girl purchased the abortion pill online in May of 2024 with the help of her mother. The girl was more than 20 weeks pregnant, double the gestational age permitted for the chemical abortion pill.
In Pennsylvania women can have a surgical abortion up to 24 weeks gestation.
Police reports state that the teen was adamant she was in her first trimester at the time. However, the remains of the baby supported the suspicion of a 20 week gestational age.
According to a text message the teen sent to a friend the baby was delivered alive and crying. In the text exchange she described the visible features on the baby including its nose and fingernails. The baby did not survive, and the teen and her mother buried the baby in a box in the backyard of their home.
The teen’s friend came forward to the local police months later, and the baby’s remains were discovered.
The Lancaster County coroner had taken custody of the body of the infant boy in March.
Despite the texts describing the baby’s actions after delivery Lancaster County District Attorney Heather Adams told local media outlets that there was no way of determining if the baby was born alive. Adams said the movements the teen mother had described may have been reflexes after death. Therefore, charges of homicide were not an option, the DA said.
Various media outlets shared this statement from Adams:
“I want to be abundantly clear that these defendants are not being charged with performing an abortion – as the law prevents us from doing – but for their actions after the abortion,” said Adams, “Additionally, one of the defendants is being charged with endangering the other, a juvenile, before the abortion by purchasing abortion medication for the juvenile’s use against recommended instructions which placed her in grave danger.”
Sarah Bowen, president of the Pennsylvania Pregnancy Wellness Collaborative, said this case only reveals the need for further recognition of the dangers of the abortion pill.
“The Pennsylvania Pregnancy Wellness Collaborative is deeply saddened by the details of this case,” Bowen said. “This young woman and her mother were sold the lie that home abortion is safe and effective. Tragically, they discovered that this is far from the truth.”
Tweet This: This young woman and her mother were sold the lie that home abortion is safe and effective. They discovered that this is far from the truth.
“This case strengthens our resolve to ensure that vulnerable women do not fall prey to dangerous abortion drugs dispensed without medical oversight,” said Bowen. “Pennsylvania mothers deserve real healthcare, not the heartbreak of abortion.”
