In a case that attracted national attention, a Georgia prosecutor on Wednesday dropped murder charges against a woman who swallowed abortion-inducing pills and then delivered a 5½-month-gestating child who lived for about 30 minutes, adding fuel to the debate over laws and regulations limiting abortion rights enacted by several states and in the House of Representatives.
The prosecutor said Wednesday that he couldn’t press a murder charge in the case because self-terminating a pregnancy is not against the law.
But pro-life groups said the case highlights the need for laws that effectively ban second- and third-trimester abortions because unborn children are “pain-capable” — developed enough gestationally to experience pain during the procedures.
On Thursday, Sen. Lindsey Graham, South Carolina Republican, is set to introduce a bill that would outlaw most abortions if the fetus is 20 weeks old or older.
The Republican-dominated House of Representatives has already passed its version of the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act. That bill would block abortions after 20 weeks unless the pregnancy is the result of a reported rape or incest, or the woman’s life is endangered.
“Right now in our country, a child can be killed in his or her mother’s womb for any reason, at any point, up until the moment of birth. We are one of only seven nations in the world, including China and North Korea, to allow such brutality. We are a better nation than this,” said Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the Susan B. Anthony List, one of several pro-life groups that support the 20-week bans.
Opponents of the laws are urging their members to call the Senate to protest the bill.
“This bill adds the unnecessary pressure of ticking clocks and expiring time limits,” said Jon O’Brien, president of Catholics for Choice.
“As Catholics, we believe it is more important that a woman make the right decision for herself and her family than she make a hasty one,” he said, adding that the proposed legislation is not only “dangerous” to women but is likely unconstitutional.
Earlier this year, a woman wrote to members of NARAL Pro-Choice America about her late-term abortion.
Dana Weinstein said she and her husband belatedly discovered their baby had “horrifying severe fetal anomalies.” They chose abortion to spare their unborn child “a world of immense suffering” had she been born.
“Had our baby been viable, we would have done anything, everything [to save her]. She was not [viable],” Mrs. Weinstein wrote in protest of the House-passed bill.
Some 11 states now ban abortions at 20 weeks on the disputed grounds that the fetus can feel pain at that point in gestation, the Guttmacher Institute said in a June 1 report on state policies.
Some states, including Arizona, Georgia and Idaho, have had their laws enjoined or restricted by courts, but laws in Alabama, Arkansas, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Nebraska, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Texas and West Virginia remain in effect.
The pro-life Americans United for Life, which has model legislation for the 20-week bans, said at least 11 more states were considering bills this year. Recently, the Wisconsin state Senate passed a 20-week abortion ban, while Ohio lawmakers have begun holding hearings on a bill.
Georgia incident
The issue took on a human face this week in Georgia with the news about Kenlissia Jones, 23, self-aborted her unborn baby boy using pills she ordered from Canada.
According to media reports, Ms. Jones, who was about 22 weeks pregnant, decided to abort her child after she and her boyfriend broke up.
On Saturday, Ms. Jones swallowed several misoprostol pills, known as Cytotec, she had ordered from a Canadian website.
Cytotec, which is used to treat stomach ulcers, is frequently used to induce contractions during an abortion. However, in typical medication abortions, the woman first takes the abortion pill, known as RU-486 or mifepristone, to kill the fetus — and this process is primarily used in pregnancies that are younger than 7 weeks.
“Once she took those pills, from the way I’m understanding it, she was in a world of hurt for a while,” Rico Riggins, Ms. Jones’ brother, told WALB-TV News 10 in Albany, Georgia.
On Saturday night, Ms. Jones had a neighbor drive her to a hospital, but she ended up delivering her child in the car. The baby boy lived for about 30 minutes before dying in the hospital, WALB-TV reported.
When she explained what happened, a hospital social worker reported her case to law enforcement officials. They arrested and jailed Ms. Jones for murder and possession of dangerous drugs.
Mr. Riggins told WALB-TV he and Ms. Jones’ other family members had no idea she was pregnant. He said he and his wife now have temporary guardianship of Ms. Jones’ 2-year-old son, and that Ms. Jones’ mother and grandmother were grieving for the loss of the child and worried about Ms. Jones’ emotional and mental health.
Initially, Dougherty County District Attorney Greg Edwards said Ms. Jones may have violated state law, sparking a national uproar. But on Wednesday, he said she had been released from jail and the murder charges dropped.
“Georgia law presently does not permit prosecution of Ms. Jones for any alleged acts related to the end of her pregnancy,” Mr. Edwards said in a statement.
She still faces a misdemeanor charge of dangerous drug possession.
Georgia law disallows abortions after the first trimester unless they are performed in a licensed facility. Abortions of unborn children who are 20 weeks old or older are also not permitted, except in cases where the fetus is diagnosed with a condition deemed medically futile, or the mother faces serious risk of death or physical impairment.
However, “no criminal statutes in Georgia” permit punishing women based on pregnancy or pregnancy outcomes, said Lynn Paltrow, an attorney and executive director of National Advocates for Pregnant Women, a legal group in New York that stepped up for Ms. Jones.
“People who seek medical attention for any aspect of pregnancy — including prenatal care, labor and delivery, miscarriage, stillbirth or abortion — should not fear arrest,” Ms. Paltrow said. “There is no role for police or prosecutors in reproductive health.”
Genevieve Wilson, a director of Georgia Right to Life, told The Associated Press this was the first time she had heard of a woman in Georgia facing a murder charge for ending her pregnancy.
Ms. Wilson agreed with Ms. Paltrow that feticide and abortion laws in the state have not been used to target women who end their own pregnancies.
“I am very surprised by the arrest,” Ms. Wilson said. “And I’m thinking that perhaps whoever made the arrest may not have known what the laws really are.”
• Cheryl Wetzstein can be reached at cwetzstein@washingtontimes.com.
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