Georgia Woman Charged with Murder for Taking Abortion Pills

[niyad]

(and the hate-filled, ultimately self-destructive, war on women continues apace)


Georgia Woman Charged with Murder for Taking Abortion Pills

A 23-year-old Georgia woman was arrested yesterday and charged with malice murder and possession of a dangerous drug for attempting an at-home abortion using the drug misoprostol. The charges, which are unprecedented in the state of Georgia, have left groups on all sides of the abortion debate stunned.



According to Dougherty County authorities, Kenlissa Jones was arrested on Saturday after a call from hospital social worker. The social worker reported to police that Jones had gone into labor after taking four misoprostol pills she had purchased over the Internet. Jones then delivered the fetus, which did not survive. Following her arrest, Jones was taken to the Dougherty County jail and held without bond.

“We don’t believe there is any law in Georgia that allows for the arrest of a woman for the outcome of her pregnancy,” said Lynn Paltrow, attorney and Executive Director for the National Advocates for Pregnant Women (NAPW).

NAPW released a statement condemning the arrest of Jones, saying that not only is there no law in Georgia that allows for the arrest of women based on the outcome of their pregnancies, such an arrest is actually at odds with existing state law. “There are no criminal statutes in Georgia that permit punishment of women based on pregnancy or pregnancy outcomes – and the constitution, as well as human rights principles, prohibit such punitive laws directed to pregnant women,” the statement reads.

Indeed, Genevieve Wilson, a director of the anti-abortion group Georgia Right to Life, says she was “very surprised by the arrest,” and that “I’m thinking that perhaps whoever made the arrest may not have known what the laws really are.”

Paltrow and other abortion rights activists are concerned with the increasing trend of criminalizing pregnant women, as in the case of an Indiana woman sentenced to 20 years in prison for charges of feticide after suffering a miscarriage. Patel was convicted of both terminating her pregnancy on purpose and abandoning a live, delivered fetus. However, there is no evidence to support the idea that she abandoned a living fetus – there was no evidence she took an abortion-inducing pill, and no proof the fetus was alive once it existed her body. Patel has remained consistent that what happened was that she suffered a miscarriage, and has since filed an appeal.

. . . . .

http://feminist.org/blog/index.php/2015/06/10/georgia-woman-charged-with-murder-for-taking-abortion-pills/

[CurtEastPoint]

1. Update: charges dropped.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/murder-charge-for-woman-who-took-abortion-pill-questioned/ar-BBkRkbH

[niyad]

2. thank you, just saw that and was about to post.

it does not change the basic fact that pregnancies are being criminalized all across the country.

and this does not surprise me:



kenlissa jones

[TDale313]

3. No, me either.

Glad the charges were dropped, but it's both horrifying and yet somehow unsurprising that she was charged in the first place. This is what they've been working towards.

[niyad]

4. we are going to see so much more of this.

[CurtEastPoint]

9. Not, it surely doesn't change the fact that this is a horrible law. Unjust, mean, terrible.

[Warpy]

5. The main issue seems to be that she bypassed all their damned abortion restriction laws

by getting her own pills over the internet.

I have to wonder how far along she was, also, since they managed to keep the fetus alive for 30 minutes, unless they're lying about that.

The pills work best very early in a pregnancy, which seems to contradict their statement about how long the fetus lived outside her body.

It's also an example of what desperate women are willing to do if they put too many restrictions on abortion care.

[niyad]

10. another article I read said she was about 5 1/2 months.

[Warpy]

14. Just under viability

If it took her that long, my best guess tells me she needs mental health care, not a frogmarch out of a hospital bed and into jail.

However, this country would rather knee jerk and slut shame, especially if it's a black person, so that will never occur to any of the authorities.

[niyad]

15. according to the article, her brother indicates that two previous pregnancies had serious issues.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/06/10/woman-charged-with-murder-didnt-have-any-money-to-get-an-abortion-the-legal-way-brother-says/

[Warpy]

17. Looks like she gave one up for adoption

and just couldn't face that kind of agony again.

This is on top of mental problems.

This is such a sad story. The politicians will undoubtedly react with another fetal homicide law that will punish women even more.

[niyad]

18. sadly, I think you are quite correct.

[gollygee]

16. Sometimes it takes a long time

because it's difficult and expensive to get an abortion, and people try and try to get one the safe way, but eventually get pretty far along. If the anti-abortion crowd thinks women should have abortions early if they're going to have them, they need to make it easier to have abortions.

[niyad]

19. the gestational slavers do not believe women should EVER have abortions. there was even some

idiot pol (forget where) who tried to get a law passed that women whose fetuses died STILL had to go through the whole nine months and give "birth". sick, twisted, woman-hating slime.

[Marrah_G]

6. The fact that she was even arrested scares the heck out of me

[LeftyMom]

8. And her name and story are a google away, forever.

That's scary. Putting aside that the antis are crazy and violent, just think of how many job opportunities this may close off for her over the coming decades?

[niyad]

11. you make a scary, and excellent, point.

[gollygee]

7. This was always the point of these laws.

And yes, not surprising that it happened to a woman of color.

[uppityperson]

12. Charges dropped but now the internet has her private medical history? Bah

[niyad]

13. yes. this will follow her forever.