A health professional in Kentucky called for improved resources for expecting mothers amid the investigation surrounding former University of Kentucky competitive cheerleader Laken Snelling.
Snelling, 21, was arrested on August 30 at her home in Lexington, Kentucky, after allegedly giving birth and hiding the baby in a closet. She was charged with abuse of a corpse, tampering with physical evidence and concealing the birth of an infant.
“We need to do a better job as a community in supporting those folks that don’t have access to direct resources and maybe feel shame or they’re not ready for a family,” Woodford County (KY) Public Health Director Cassie Prather told WKYT on Monday, September 8.
Kentucky has had a near-total abortion ban, except to potentially save a pregnant woman’s life, since Roe v. Wade was overturned by the United States Supreme Court in 2022.
Prather said she “kind of had a little bit of every emotion, much like a lot of other people that have known about this,” when she heard about Snelling’s story.
In cases like Snelling’s, Prather urged pregnant women to utilize the resources at local health departments, including advice on raising a child and connections to adoption resources.
“You could meet with one of our nurses that are trained in family planning, women’s health, and they’re gonna know based on what gestational age, what your resources are,” Prather explained. “Unfortunately, now, I think we may have to go out of state for some of those, and I’m not saying that’s anything we promote or don’t promote.”
She continued, “We just lay out the facts, here are the options and let them ask us any questions and answer any questions they have in a safe, supportive environment. There’s no judgment here.”
Authorities were called to Snelling’s home in Lexington on August 27, after a report of an unresponsive infant.
The “infant was located wrapped in a towel inside of a black trash bag,” according to an arrest citation.
Snelling “admitted to giving birth” and to “concealing the birth by cleaning any evidence, placing all cleaning items used inside of a black trash bag, including the infant, who was wrapped in a towel.”
The cheerleader, who spent three seasons on the University of Kentucky STUNT team, pleaded not guilty to all charges. She is no longer a student at the school or on the STUNT team, a spokesperson for the school confirmed to Us Weekly on Friday, September 5.
Snelling posted a $100,000 bond and is now living on “home incarceration with no ankle monitor” with her parents in Tennessee.
A spokesperson for the Lexington Police Department told Us on Monday, September 8, that the death investigation remains “ongoing.”
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