Woman who attempted suicide while pregnant is accused of murder

Prosecution would be a 'significant step' towards abortion being outlawed, says lawyer for pregnant women's group

Ewen MacAskill in Washington
guardian.co.uk, Friday 15 April 2011 16.23 BST

A woman accused of murdering her four-day-old baby girl by trying to kill herself with rat poison while pregnant has become a cause célèbre for US women's groups and civil liberties organisations.

Bei Bei Shuai, 34, a restaurant owner who moved to the US from China 10 years ago, was pregnant and planning to marry her boyfriend until she learned late last year that he was already married and he would be abandoning her.

A few days later, on 23 December, she went to a hardware store, bought rat poison pellets, went back to her flat in Indianapolis and swallowed some. But she did not die immediately and was persuaded by friends to go to hospital.