A Nevada woman once imprisoned and publicly branded a “baby killer” after a miscarriage has secured a $1.6 million settlement in a case that a judge later called a “total miscarriage of justice.”
Patience Rousseau, now 34, was sentenced in 2019 to as many as eight years in prison after prosecutors claimed she had deliberately caused the end of her pregnancy.
Her conviction relied on a 1911 Nevada statute that prohibited using drugs or other substances to terminate a pregnancy after 24 weeks.
A judge eventually dismissed the conviction, sharply criticizing the prosecution and describing Rousseau’s treatment as a “total miscarriage of justice.”
“They fought so much to avoid paying me,” Rousseau said. “I went through so much, and so did my children, who are still facing these issues. It’s not fair.”
In March, her attorneys sent Humboldt County a demand letter alleging violations of state law and Rousseau’s state and federal constitutional rights, as well as intentional infliction of emotional distress, according to the Nevada Independent.
The settlement was completed in early August. About $1.2 million is designated for Rousseau, who now lives in South Dakota with her three sons.
Rousseau was 26 and living in Winnemucca in 2018 when she learned that she was pregnant.
Patience Rousseau, 34, was sentenced to as many as eight years in prison in 2019 after prosecutors accused her of deliberately causing a miscarriage
Rousseau received a $1.6 million settlement after accusing Humboldt County of violating state law and her state and federal constitutional rights, as well as causing her severe emotional distress
At the time, she was uncertain how far the pregnancy had progressed and wanted to obtain an abortion.
But according to the outlet, Rousseau had no transportation to travel to Reno for an appointment.
In an effort to end the pregnancy on her own, she consumed large quantities of cinnamon and lifted heavy objects—unproven methods she believed might trigger a miscarriage.
In April 2018, she miscarried and delivered a stillborn baby. She named him Abel and buried him in her backyard.
“I’m so sorry Abel. I’m sorry I’m a horrible person,” Rousseau wrote in a Facebook post soon afterward.
Several officers came to her home the following month and initially pointed to her cinnamon use as evidence that she had attempted to cause the miscarriage.
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Investigators also focused on Rousseau’s use of methamphetamine, marijuana and cigarettes during the pregnancy.
Prosecutors maintained that she had taken drugs to induce the miscarriage, violating Nevada’s century-old law.
She was arrested and charged with felony manslaughter.
Following advice from her public defender, Rousseau pleaded guilty and entered prison in 2019. She ultimately spent more than two years behind bars.
Prior to her sentencing, she detailed to the Washington Post how she was outcast in her town, noting how she lost friends and was harassed.
Rousseau said the first time she tried going to the grocery store, a group of teenage boys chased her down the aisle yelling, ‘baby killer.’
Rousseau was living in Winnemucca in 2018 when she was arrested. She plead guilty and entered prison in 2019, at the advice of her lawyer
On June 28, 2021, a judge ruled that her conviction should be set aside based on ineffective assistance of counsel (Stock Image)
However, in 2021, her conviction was tossed after Laura FitzSimmons, Rousseau’s new attorney, argued the prosecution could not prove Rousseau’s drug use caused her miscarriage.
The medical examiner could also not determine what caused the miscarriage and found no evidence that the child was born alive.
The examiner estimated that Rousseau was between 28 and 32 weeks pregnant at the time of the miscarriage.
Other experts later testified that it was impossible to determine what caused her to lose the pregnancy.
On June 28, 2021, a judge ruled that her conviction should be set aside based on ineffective assistance of counsel.
According to FitzSimmons, Rousseau is the only person who has ever been prosecuted under the 1911 abortion law, as per the Nevada Independent.
Humboldt County officials expressed interest in prosecuting her again, but in 2025, her attorney successfully had the charges dismissed with prejudice, preventing them from ever being brought again.
Rousseau, who now lives in South Dakota, told the outlet: ‘I don’t ever want to come back to Nevada again, or honestly ever see any of the people in Winnemucca again. They ruined it for me.’
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