Tennessee woman smothered her newborn twins, police say

[sinkingfeeling]

http://www.cnn.com/2011/09/16/justice/tennessee-twins-killed/index.html?hpt=hp_t2

(CNN) -- A Tennessee woman secretly gave birth to twin boys in a toilet in the home she shared with her parents, then smothered the infants and hid their bodies in a bedroom laundry basket, police said Friday.

Lowe, 25, was charged with of two counts of first degree murder. She remained jailed Friday pending a Monday appearance before a Sumner County judge.

She gave birth to the first baby between 8:30 pm. and 9 p.m. on Monday, according to the affidavit.

Lowe, who according to the affidavit confessed to killing her newborns, said she didn't look at either of the babies as she covered their mouths to stop them from crying.

The woman told police she placed the bodies in a laundry basket and covered them with blankets to hide them.

She was at work at a dental clinic for children when her father found the bodies, police said.

[glowing]

1. Why? Why would a 25 yr old kill her children? Did she have a mental

break snap? If she didn't want the babies, why not do the proper thing and get an abortion when she was just a few weeks along. If she didn't want to keep them, put them up for adoption. Why kill babies? Has this world become so insane and sick that this is becoming more normal.. Or is it just becoming more reported upon?

[Warpy]

4. Maybe there were barriers to abortion she couldn't climb

like religion, cost, distance, ignorance, and a host of others. Maybe she knew her parents had morbid religious scruples about it.

In any case, this just points out the other truth about abortion, that the alternative for desperate women is infanticide.

I seriously doubt this woman is playing with a full deck, in any case. I hope this is investigated fully, but they'll probably just lock her up for the rest of her life, aint it awful.

[Chorophyll]

6. This has happened throughout human history.

But regarding this particular case: Is it easy to get an abortion in Tennessee these days? Did she have access to resources about abortion, adoption? What I'm saying is, who really knows the particulars of this case? It's tragic but in the end all we can do to prevent these things is to make sure every woman has access to health care, which includes gynecological services AND mental health care.

[Horse with no Name]

18. 2008 stats

• In 2008, 94% of Tennessee counties had no abortion provider. 59% of Tennessee women lived in these counties.

http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/sfaa/tennessee.html

[malaise]

7. Clearly something is wrong

Let's wait until we know who was the father of the poor murdered infants

[Blue_Tires]

11. speculation on my part

1. She comes from a fundie upbringing that won't allow out-of-wedlock kids from some one-night stand

2. The pregnancy was the result of rape or an abusive relationship

[valerief]

14. Abortion would be a sin.

:sarcasm:

[glowing]

15. I know you put on the sarcasm thingy.. but I think abortion

is much, much, much more humane than smothering a newborn innocent baby's mouth.. AND she literally did it 2 times. Didn't even think between smothering the first one to the second one. AND then go onto hide the dead bodies in a laundry basket and go into work like nothing had happened. She was a dental hygienist; its not exactly like the profession is like some sort of minimum wage paying position. On top of that, the entire time she was pregnant, she was hiding it? AND no one noticed that a woman who was pregnant with twins wasn't pregnant? I know some women have gone thru pregnancies with minimum baby bumps.. they are far and few between. The fact that she hid twins seems nearly impossible to me. And how scared must she have been giving birth on a toilet. First one baby comes out and then a second. I'm assuming she had NO pre-natal care. Perhaps she didn't know she was even pregnant and after she all of a sudden gave birth when she didn't even know she was pregnant, she panicked and pretended like it didn't happen. If she was unaware of the pregnancy the entire time, which has happened with some women in other situations, she may not have spent 9 months forming that mother/ baby bond and preparing for a baby life to be in her life. She will probably go into a severe depression when it really hits her what happened and what she has done.

[valerief]

17. Agreed. Abortion is absolutely more humane. I was just making fun of

twisted fundie logic. Not that she's necessarily a fundie, but I think I've read about nutty fundy moms who kill their kids for Jesus.

[kestrel91316]

2. Was this by any chance a fundamendalist christian home and the young

woman was expected to abstain until marriage and was never taught proper birth control??

I smell a repressed environment and a failure of abstinence-only education.

[Fumesucker]

5. There's not enough info to make that call..

But yeah, that sounds like a strong possibility.

[Dreamer Tatum]

13. I smell your farts.

Seriously - what info leads you to "smell" that?

[bengalherder]

16. Been reading some stuff about Fundies and FDLS lately.

Survivors often relate pregnancies from ignorance or incest that are kept secret.

[canadianbeaver]

3. there just isn't any words anymore.......f*ck me.....n/t

[montanacowboy]

8. My question is: why didn't she dispose of the babies?

she purposefully left them in the basket to be found?

something really wrong here in more than one way

[joeybee12]

9. Jesus Christ...this is too phucking sad...nt

[riverwalker]

10. more in this article

the family lives in a pretty nice house in a gated community.


http://www.tennessean.com/article/20110916/NEWS03/309160065/Police-say-twins-tragedy-avoidable?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|FRONTPAGE

'Sweet, upbeat girl'

The news shocked many on the Western Kentucky University campus, where Lowe attended college, even those who didn’t know her well, said Kailee Henson, who was her sorority sister.

“She was always such a sweet, upbeat girl who had such a great life. She was always really involved, everyone always looked up to her,” Henson said. “You would never think in a million years she could do something like that.”

Henson said Lowe studied interior design at the university and was extremely active in their sorority. She said students and teachers there were upset upon hearing the news.

Lowe’s family attended City Road Chapel United Methodist Church. Senior Pastor Ron Lowery told The Associated Press that Lowe grew up in the church and participated in youth activities. He said Lowe’s efforts to hide the pregnancy were “a mystery to everybody.”

[louslobbs]

12. Innocent little newborns smothered by their mother. Why does nothing shock me anymore? I am numb.

Republicans/Teahadists cheering of Rick Parry's execution numbers.......Republicans/Teabaggers chanting "let him die" related to a hypothetical question about a sick (and possibly dying), uninsured 30yr old man. Have some in this country (mainly Republicans), just totally lost their fking minds? Who are these people and where did they learn these behaviors and that being like this is somehow normal or is ok? Where is this country headed if these people are not called out, shunned, and shamed back into their holes or forced back under their rocks? My partner and I could have and would have given these newborns a loving and secure home, what the hell happened here? What the hell is happening? I have no problem with shedding these frustrated and anguished tears, I'm just tired of shedding them. I literally ache.
Lou