A young mother in Texas has been accused of trying to sell her baby on Facebook, even after being warned that it was illegal.
Houston resident Juniper Bryson, 21, has been charged with a third degree felony, the “sale or purchase of a child,” according to documents filed with the Harris County District Clerk’s Office and reported by the Houston Chronicle, following her attempt to sell her baby for $150 to someone in Louisiana on social media.
Bryson got noticed on Facebook after reaching out to six people before she delivered her baby. Messages exchanged on the platform, which were included in the court documents reported by the Houston Chronicle, revealed Bryson allegedly did not think selling her child was a crime, and instead saw her move as a “different kind of adoption.”
She also allegedly told people on Facebook who said her actions were illegal, that she believed it was no different than people paying for a surrogate.
She allegedly said in a message over the social media platform to a woman she called Aunt Jenna: “It’s not even like that it’s just enough to move into an apartment so I can work a job…”
The Harris County Sheriff’s Department has been contacted via email for comment.
Per surrogacy.com, there are no commercial surrogacy laws in Texas, meaning that surrogacy is fully legal in the state. However, Texans cannot pay surrogates in exchange for having a baby. They can only compensate their surrogate financially for their time and effort in the process of creating and giving birth to a baby.
Texas also has “safe haven” laws that allow parents to legally leave their newborns at a hospital or fire station or designated safe place within 60 days of being born. Safe haven laws were one of the arguments used to overturn Roe v. Wade by Justice Samuel Alito.
Since Texas was able to ban abortion following a fetal heartbeat detection, infant mortality rates in the state have risen by 12.9%.
Bryson was reported to the police for her actions by a woman she was exchanging messages with on Facebook, per the Houston Chronicle.
As well as being charged with a third degree felony, Bryson’s baby allegedly tested positive for drugs taken by Bryson during her pregnancy.
It was not Bryson’s first arrest. Per the Houston Chronicle, she was charged before with “unauthorized use of a vehicle, assault of a family member and criminal mischief.”
All three of these cases were dismissed, due to her participation in an ongoing federal case, as noted in the court documents.
Her bail was set at $30,000, despite prosecutors requesting it to be set at $20,000, and Bryson is expected to appear before a judge in Harris County on November 4.
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