Alabama woman charged with manslaughter after her unborn child died when she was shot in the stomach
An Alabama woman has been charged with manslaughter over the death of her unborn baby after she was shot in the stomach while pregnant.
Marshae Jones, 27, of Birmingham, Alabama, was five months pregnant when she reportedly got into a fight with another woman outside a general store.
The brawl led to Jones being shot in the stomach.
The 27-year-old survived but her unborn baby girl was killed.
Pleasant Grove Police Lt Danny Reid said the fight stemmed from a dispute over the unborn baby's father.
Lt Reid also said that although the pregnant woman didn’t fire the shots that killed the unborn child, she initiated the fight and therefore bore some responsibility towards the victim.
“The investigation showed that the only true victim in this was the unborn baby,’’ Lt Reid said in the hours following the incident, according to AL.com news.
“It was the mother of the child who initiated and continued the fight which resulted in the death of her own unborn baby.”
He added that the five-month-old foetus was "dependent on its mother to try to keep it from harm, and she shouldn’t seek out unnecessary physical altercations.”
The shooting happened at around 12pm on December 4, 2018, outside Dollar General in Pleasant Grove, Jefferson County.
Jones was taken from Fairfield to Birmingham’s UAB trauma Hospital, where her unborn child was pronounced dead.
Police initially charged the other woman with manslaughter, but the charge against her was dropped after the grand jury failed to indict her.
On Wednesday the Jefferson County grand jury indicted Jones on a manslaughter charge and she was taken into custody, according to ABC news.
She will be transferred to the Jefferson County Jail and held on a $50,000 (£39,330) bond.
News of Jones’ manslaughter charge has sparked outrage among many, including women’s rights activists.
The Yellowhammer Fund, which helps US women access abortion services, released a statement on Wednesday night, deploring the state’s treatment of pregnant women.
It read: “The state of Alabama has proven yet again that the moment a person becomes pregnant their sole responsibility is to produce a live, healthy baby and that it considers any action a pregnant person takes that might impede in that live birth to be a criminal act.
“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.
“Tomorrow, it will be another black woman, maybe for having a drink while pregnant. And after that, another, for not obtaining adequate prenatal care.”
Yellowhammer gained national attention after Alabama passed a new law banning almost all abortions in the state.
Its executive director Amanda Reyes said of Jones: “We commit ourselves to making sure that Marshae is released from jail on bond, assisting with her legal representation, and working to ensure that she gets justice for the multiple attacks that she has endured.”
A petition to drop the charges against the 27-year-old has been launched, with the lead campaigner writing: "The system where a pregnant mother is charged because she’s lost her baby after being shot is a broken one.
"How can a killer walk away free while the victim is charged for the act of killing an unborn child?"
