New Delhi: Marshae Jones, an Alabama woman who had a miscarriage after she was shot in the stomach when she was pregnant, has been indicted for manslaughter. Though another woman pulled the trigger, authorities said she “started the fight that led to the gunfire”.
According to AL.com, the 27-year-old was indicted by a Jefferson County grand jury on a manslaughter charge and taken into custody on Wednesday. The shooter, identified as Ebony Jemison, was also charged with manslaughter by police, but she will go free after the grand jury failed to indict her.
The shooting occurred in December last year, when Jones was five months pregnant. She was shot in the stomach and suffered a miscarriage as a result.
Police charged her with manslaughter, saying the investigation “showed that the only true victim in this was the unborn baby’’. Pleasant Grove police lieutenant Danny Reid said “it was the mother of the child who initiated and continued the fight which resulted in the death of her own unborn baby.” This led to Jemison defending herself and “unfortunately caused the death of the baby”.
Reid said:
“Let’s not lose sight that the unborn baby is the victim here. She had no choice in being brought unnecessarily into a fight where she was relying on her mother for protection.”
Jones will be transferred to the Jefferson County Jail where she will be held on $50,000 bond, AL.com reported.
Alabama has recently passed one of the strictest anti-abortion laws, outlawing nearly all abortions. Though the Bill has not taken effect yet and is likely to face legal challenges, Republican legislators have undertaken a multistate effort to have the US Supreme Court reconsider a woman’s constitutional right to an abortion. The new law criminalises actions that may endanger a foetus.
Women’s rights activists and pro-choice groups criticised the verdict. The Yellowhammer Fund, an organisation that helps women access abortion services, released a statement on Wednesday night, saying “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,” the group’s executive director Amanda Reyes said.
“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,’’ Reyes said.