‘This is murder’: Grieving family lash out at ‘pro-choice’ website after daughter’s death

A grieving US mother is using her heartache to warn other parents of the dangers that lurk on the internet. Jacqueline Bieber's daughter took her own life last week and Ms Bieber says she found a disturbing website on her daughter's phone.

"I want parents to know and talk with their kids," Ms Bieber said.

"I don't want anyone to pull this up like my daughter did and think this is the only way."

As she clenched a birthday gift from her daughter, Ms Bieber is warning parents of websites and forums telling people different ways they can die by suicide.

"I never ever knew that there was anything so accessible to anybody like this," Ms Bieber said.

Mr Bieber found her daughter, Shawn Shatto, laying on her bedroom floor. She was cold to the touch. Ms Bieber tried to perform CPR but knew it was too late. At first, she didn't think Shatto took her own life but later that day her phone revealed disturbing posts from a website.

"They were cheering her on to the finish line of a suicide," said Elizabeth Hoffman, Shatto's aunt.

People on the post were telling Shawn what drugs to mix to kill herself and wishing her "good luck" and "safe travels".

"No one gave her an option to live or for help," said Ms Bieber.

Shawn's family wants these so called pro-suicide websites shut down and people held responsible. They point to Suzy's Law passed in 2013 in California, which criminalises websites promoting suicide.

"How can these people not be held liable?" Ms Bieber said.

As Shawn's family prepares for her funeral services in Harrisburg on Wednesday, they're hoping her story reminds people suicide is never the answer and there are people and organisations available 24/7 to help.

"Don't go to a website or strangers. Go to family, find anybody, or a suicide hotline," Ms Bieber said.

"If you feel like you don't have family, call a suicide hotline. your family is worth it."

Police are now investigating the incident.

Shatto had been communicating with other people on the forum, confessing in her final post to being "f------ terrified", Buzzfeed News has reported.

The website administrators said in a disclaimer on the site that they were not pro-suicide, but "pro-choice".

One administrator expressed sympathy for Shawn's family in a post, but said they would "not allow" the website to be taken down.

"We strive to make this community a censorship-free place where people can discuss suicide without having to worry about being involuntarily committed and held against their will," the administrator wrote.

Ms Bieber told Buzzfeed somebody needed to be held liable.

"This is not free speech. This is murder," she said.

Readers seeking support can contact Lifeline on 13 11 14 or Beyond Blue on 1300 22 4636.

With CNN.