{"id":228702,"date":"2020-08-12T16:38:52","date_gmt":"2020-08-12T21:38:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=228702"},"modified":"2020-08-12T00:06:43","modified_gmt":"2020-08-12T05:06:43","slug":"grieving-mother-law-prosecute-online-predators-suicide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/grieving-mother-law-prosecute-online-predators-suicide\/","title":{"rendered":"Grieving mother pushes for law to prosecute online predators who encourage suicide"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A grieving mother whose daughter died by suicide after being encouraged and coached on how to kill herself<\/a> by a pro-suicide website is now trying to ban websites that instruct people on how to take their own lives.<\/p>\n

In May 2019, Pennsylvania resident Jackie Bieber found her daughter, Shawn Shatto, dead in her room from suicide. Shatto had been struggling with depression for years and was receiving mental health treatment. When the heartbroken mother looked at her daughter\u2019s cell phone, she saw messages from strangers encouraging her daughter to kill herself and offering instructions on methods to do so.<\/p>\n

Shatto had found a site dedicated to helping people kill themselves, and people from the website had given her instructions on what medications to take and how to mix them in a way that would be fatal. Shatto followed their instructions and died.<\/p>\n

Rather than encouraging Shatto to seek help, tell her mother, her real-life friends, or her therapist about her feelings, they encouraged her to instead to give in to her depression. According to Shatto\u2019s aunt, \u201cThey were cheering her on to the finish line of a suicide.” Multiple people were involved.<\/p>\n

READ:\u00a0Assisted suicide groups lobby for more death during coronavirus panic<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

When Shatto expressed worry that her mother might find out about her suicidal feelings, someone on the forum said, \u201cWe are kind of worried because it might not be 100 percent if she hears you, she might call the police and it might not work.”\u00a0Bieber believes that had it not been for the detailed instructions Shatto received in the forum, as well as their encouragement to go through with suicide, her daughter might be alive today.<\/p>\n