An expecting mother in Alabama is now facing a manslaughter charge for her unborn child after she allegedly started the altercation that led to her own miscarriage.
27-year-old shooting victim Marshae Jones was indicted by an Alabama grand jury on Wednesday in the death of her unborn fetus. Jones had suffered a miscarriage after being shot in the abdomen by 23-year-old Ebony Jemison on Dec. 4, 2018.
Jemison was initially charged with manslaughter, but a grand jury declined to indict her and the charge was dropped after police determined the shooting was in self-defense, AL.com reports. Jones was five months pregnant when Jemison shot her outside of a Dollar Store during an argument over the child’s father, according to Pleasant Grove police.
“The investigation showed that the only true victim in this was the unborn baby,’’ Pleasant Grove police Lt. Danny Reid said after the shooting, according to AL.com. “It was the mother of the child who initiated and continued the fight which resulted in the death of her own unborn baby.”
Alabama’s Yellowhammer Fund, which advocates for abortion rights in the state, equated the harsh sentence to the state’s recent passing of the nation’s strictest abortion law in May.
“Today, Marshae Jones is being charged with manslaughter for being pregnant and getting shot while engaging in an altercation with a person who had a gun,” Amanda Reyes, the Yellowhammer Fund’s executive director, said in a statement. “Tomorrow, it will be another black woman, maybe for having a drink while pregnant. And after that, another, for not obtaining adequate prenatal care.”
“Jones’s case may seem extreme, but far too soon it will be commonplace. And it will be poor, marginalized and black people who will feel this pain the most.” she added.
Reyes said her group would assist Jones with her defense. Jones was indicted by a Jefferson County grand jury and was ordered jailed on $50,000 bond.
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