Pregnant Woman Indicted For Her Unborn Child's Death By Gunshot

A grand jury has found 27-year-old Marshae Jones of Birmingham, Alabama guilty in a shooting case which resulted in the death of her unborn child. However, the woman who had actually pulled the trigger has walked free, as the grand jury on the case failed to indict her. Jones has been charged with manslaughter because she allegedly started the fight.

What Happened

On December 4 2018, an argument broke between Marshae Jones and 23-year-old Ebony Jemison over the father of the unborn child. It was outside a shop in Pleasant Grove, reports The Independent. Al.com has additionally reported that police officers were dispatched to the scene on a report of someone shot but arrived to find that the shooting victim, Jones, had already been driven to a nearby city. The police and paramedics tracked her down and rushed her to the hospital, but unfortunately, Jones' child couldn't survive.

"The investigation showed that the only true victim in this was the unborn baby," Pleasant Grove police Lt. Danny Reid said at the time of the shooting, further adding, "The mother of the child initiated and continued the fight which resulted in the death of her own unborn baby". The father of the unborn child, over whom the whole incident happened, accepted that it was Jones who initiated and pressed the fight, which ultimately caused Jemison to defend herself and unfortunately caused the death of the baby.

 Let’s not lose sight that the unborn baby is the victim here. The 5-month fetus was dependent on its mother to try to keep it from harm. She shouldn’t seek out unnecessary physical altercations. - Investigative officer Lt. Reid.

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Alabama: No state for women?

This conviction by grand jury has incited many women's rights activists in the United States. Executive Director Amanda Reyes of 'The Yellowhammer Fund' gave a statement to Al.com, "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."

Jones has been charged with manslaughter because she allegedly started the fight.

Reyes further added, "We commit ourselves to make 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."

Authorities will transfer Marshae to the Jefferson County Jail where she will be held on $50,000 bond

In May this year, the governor of Alabama signed the most restrictive abortion bill in the US into law, after the state’s Senate passed it by a clear majority. The bill makes abortion a crime at any stage of pregnancy, allowing punishment of doctors who perform the procedure with life in prison. Not even victims of rapes and incest are exempted from this law.

Picture: Alabama police handout

Divya Tripathi is an intern with SheThePeople.TV