A 17-year-old Nebraska girl and her mother have been charged with numerous felony counts after the girl performed a medication abortion and disposed of the 28-week-old fetus, with prosecutors getting evidence from Facebook, Vice reports, in an ominous foreshadowing of how law enforcement in red states will use private communications to enforce totalitarian rules.

In April, prior to the Supreme Court overturning Roe v Wade, Celeste Burgess obtained the chemical abortifacient combination Pregnot, a combination treatment of mifepristone and misoprostol, via a mail order provider, and the treatment prompted a stillborn birth.  Burgess and her mother then buried the fetus with the assistance of a family friend.

Nebraska law bans abortions after 20 weeks of gestation, so the Burgesses and their friend were charged with a variety of crimes.  Celeste Burgess faces five charges, including three felonies, including obtaining an illegal abortion.  Her mother faces a felony charge of disposing of a corpse.

After the stillbirth was discovered, the fetus was exhumed and an autopsy was performed.  The autopsy found that the fetus was stillborn and that the lungs never contained air.  In an affidavit supporting the arrest, Norfolk (Nebraska) police detective Ben McBride, however, commented that since the fetus was found in a plastic bag, death by asphyxia could not be ruled out, despite the coroner’s findings.

A more disturbing issue of the case revolves around how the police obtained evidence on the Burgesses’ actions.  In the affidavit  McBride said that he contacted Meta, the parent company of Facebook, to obtain logs of direct messages the Burgesses exchanged.  While he had no direct evidence that the mother and daughter had used Facebook to discuss the abortion prior to it happening, McBride swore in the affidavit that he believed the pair discussed the abortion on Facebook because the pair discussed the investigation on Facebook Messenger.

“I know from prior training and experience, and conversations with other seasoned criminal investigators, that people involved in criminal activity frequently have conversations regarding their criminal activities through various social networking sites, ie. Facebook,” McBride wrote in an affidavit to get a warrant for the Facebook Messenger discussions.  “Furthermore, the fact that C. Burgess showed she had already sent J. Burgess a message on Facebook Messenger pertaining to this investigation, leads me to believe that there will be more messages between C. Burgess and J. Burgess, and possibly with J. Burgess and others, with information regarding specifics of this case, including statements that might indicate whether the baby was stillborn or asphyxiated.”

McBride obtained complete files from Meta, Facebook’s parent company, showing all Messenger conversations of the Burgesses.