Rural Nevada woman prosecuted under obscure state law, sent to prison after stillbirth

By Kim Passoth

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    LAS VEGAS, Nevada (KVVU) — Nevada is a firmly pro-choice state. The right to choose is even written into the state’s constitution. However, according to one attorney, Nevada is the only state in the country that can imprison someone for terminating their own pregnancy without a doctor’s assistance after 24 weeks. It’s an obscure law passed more than a century ago but because of it, one woman is still fighting for her freedom.

For two years, Patience, whose last name FOX5 is withholding, spent every moment locked away behind the walls of the Florence McClure Women’s Correctional Center in North Las Vegas, away from her two young sons.

“It was just horrific… people were screaming she was a baby killer,” recounted Patience’s attorney Laura FitzSimmons.

It was this Facebook post that led to her prison sentence, a confession:

“April 21st at 2am my life stopped. I was so scarred n afraid. I didn’t know who to talk to. I didn’t know what to do I was so scarred. I’ve been holding it in n hiding it but I can’t anymore.. I’m so sorry ***. I’m so sorry ****. I’m sorry I’m a horrible person I don’t deserve to continue after what I did.”

“She was raising these two little boys by herself, no dad, no money, no hope,” FitzSimmons revealed. In the rural town of Winnemucca, more than two hours outside of Reno, Patience struggled to survive.

“Patience was born to a really fractured situation. She suffered really horrific physical abuse in her childhood. She got pregnant and dropped out of high school before she was 16,” FitzSimmons shared. Her oldest son was born from rape, a second was also in diapers when she found herself pregnant again and living out of her car.

“Obviously, had Patience basically not been homeless and poor and living far from any doctors that provide this healthcare, they would have certified that this pregnancy would have clearly put her mental health at risk,” FitzSimmons contended.

Nevada law allows an abortion after 24 weeks if the mother’s health is at risk, but that procedure must be performed at a hospital. The closest abortion center to Winnemucca was more than two hours away.

Patience’s car was broken, and she couldn’t find a ride to Reno, so she looked to the internet for home remedies for an abortion. She ate large amounts of cinnamon and smoked marijuana daily and she lifted heavy objects.

On April 21, 2018, she had a stillbirth. Patience buried the remains in a black bandana and placed them in the arms of a monkey stuffed animal under a cross. About a month later, after reading her post on Facebook, deputies came knocking.

“It was like storm trooper city. They had four fully armed SWAT guards and two other cops show up and she told them that she did not want to bring another child into this world, that she felt incredible grief and guilt because she couldn’t afford to care for the children that she had,” FitzSimmons explained.

Patience was arrested and the Humboldt County Sherriff sent an alert to the media.

“Her public defender convinced her to plead guilty, we would say, straight up. Basically, she pled to the serious crime in exchange for the District Attorney recommending probation, but the judge sentenced her to up to 8 years in prison,” FitzSimmons stated.

Patience would spend more than a year in prison before a contact with Planned Parenthood reached out to FitzSimmons, a seasoned pro-choice attorney.

“With all my work, I never knew Nevada had this statute. It is a very old statute,” FitzSimmons admitted.

Passed in 1911, NRS 200.220 states:

A woman who takes or uses, or submits to the use of, any drug, medicine or substance, or any instrument or other means, with the intent to terminate her pregnancy after the 24th week of pregnancy, unless the same is performed upon herself upon the advice of a physician… and thereby causes the death of the child of the pregnancy, commits manslaughter.

“All the doctors who testified, including the Washoe County coroner who was the state’s witness, they all said we can’t link any behavior of Patience’s to her stillbirth,” FitzSimmons noted.

Two years after she began serving her sentence in prison, FitzSimmons got to plead for Patience’s release before a judge.

“We had a big evidentiary hearing, and he ordered her release,” FitzSimmons recalled. “I actually got to meet her at the prison gates, and she came and stayed that night at our house in Vegas and she flew back up. She never had even been to an airport before and she went and gathered her kids and she’s now living out of state,” FitzSimmons added.

“I am still struggling with what happened mentally, but I am doing really good in my life right now and I feel better than I have in years,” Patience said in a video sent to FOX5. Patience asked we not show her face for fear of retaliation.

“Going to prison hurt not just me but my children too,” Patience contended. She is sharing her story in hopes it will lead to the law that changed her life, being changed.

“To mainly protect other women from ever having to go through this,” Patience asserted.

FitzSimmons wants the law ruled unconstitutional arguing it is overly vague and is now appealing to the Nevada Supreme Court hoping to keep Patience a free woman.

“She has her boys; she is working hard, and the prosecutors want to throw her back in prison… it is really unbelievable,” FitzSimmons argued.

FOX5 reached out to the Humboldt County District Attorney’s Office to ask about their intentions of trying to get Patience back in prison. Our calls and e-mails were not returned.

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