Indiana Woman Charged With Murder After Eating Rat Poison While Pregnant

April 19, 2011 -- Advocates for women have rallied around a suicidal pregnant woman who survived a dose of rat poison, but has been jailed on murder charges because her poisoned infant died shortly after birth.

The state of Indiana has charged Bei Bei Shuai, 34, with murder and feticide. She faces up to 85 years in prison if convicted.

"This case would have huge implications," said Lynn Paltrow, the executive director of The National Advocates for Pregnant Women, a co-counsel for Bei Bei Shuai, the Indiana woman who tried to kill herself Dec. 23. "This case creates essentially an exception. Everyone that attempts suicide will be treated to the public health system, but pregnant women will be arrested and put in jail for rest of their lives."

Shuai's attorney, Lisa Pence, has filed a motion for the case to be thrown out, saying it would set a precedent that discriminates against pregnant women and would discourage them from seeking medical care.

"This is just another attack on a women's body," Pence said. "There has never been a case like this filed in Indiana. This is untested and unprecedented. Even if we win she will remain incarcerated for months. My hope is that the judge will ultimately dismiss this trial."

David Rimstidt, the chief deputy on the prosecuting team, said Shuai wrote a letter before attempting to commit suicide that says she is going to "take this baby with me to Hades."

"Everybody is trying to put this into an agenda item rather than a prosecution," Rimstidt said. "It's about this woman having a specific intent to cause this harm that is against the law."

Rimstidt said the only reason this case is so contentious is because the baby was unborn when Shuai attempted to kill it.

"The fact that it was in utero makes it a different case," he said.

The prosecutor rejected arguments that convicting Shuai would discourage women from seeking help for problematic pregnancies.

"It would only have a chilling effect on women who have a specific intent to kill their fetus," Rimstidt said. "If you have a distressed pregnancy for any other reason, no crime would ever be charged for that."

After eating rat poison pellets, Shuai, 34, did not die immediately, as she intended, and allowed two friends to take her to the hospital, according to a motion filed by Shuai's attorney. Six days later Shuai had cesarean surgery and gave birth to a premature baby girl who was suffering seizures upon delivery. The baby died four days later.

Shuai, who immigrated to the U.S. from China 10 years ago, remained in the hospital's psychiatric unit for over a month. She was arrested March 14 and has been in jail ever since because Indiana does not offer bail to most murder suspects.