Bei Bei Shuai released on Bail

May 24, 2012

Indianapolis, Indiana: Bei Bei Shuai, who stands accused of feticide, was released from jail Tuesday May 22, 2012. Shuai, a Shanghai native, has been in jail in Indianapolis for more than a year. The charges against her stem from a December 2010 suicide attempt in which she ate rat poison. At the time of the attempt Shuai was 33 weeks pregnant. She attempted suicide when her boyfriend (the father of her child) abandoned her, informing her that he had a wife and another family that he was returning to.

Shuai was found by her friends and taken to the hospital following the attempt, where she consented to all medical care for herself and her unborn child. Her baby was delivered via cesarean section but only lived a few days. The suicide attempt and death of the child was reported to the state of Indiana, and in March 2011 prosecutors charged Shuai with murder, and she was taken into custody.

Shuai's attorney Linda Pence had been fighting unsuccessfully for Shuai's release for the last year, either through bail or the dismissal of the charges. Pence's main avenue of defense has been that the feticide laws in Indiana were intended to be used to ensure the safety of pregnant women in regards to third parties, not against the pregnant women themselves. Pence's motions had been dismissed by Marion County Superior Court judge Sheila A. Carlisle, but last week the Indiana Court of Appeals forced Carlisle to set bail for Shuai; the court declined to order the charges to be dismissed. Shuai had to surrender her passport and submit to GPS tracking as part of the bail agreement. Shuai's trial is set for December 2012.

External links

• NPR News, "Woman Who Tried To Commit Suicide While Pregnant Gets Bail," May 18, 2012