Woman charged with murder after allegedly taking abortion pills, going to hospital

"Alexia Moore delivered a 22- to 24-week-old fetus "with cardiac activity" in December, according to an arrest warrant, which cited Moore's medical records. The newborn, a girl, died within an hour. Police questioned Moore, 31, in the hospital and charged her this month with felony murder - the first such charging, abortion advocates said, since Georgia instated a six-week abortion ban after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade."

"Other states have charged women who have abortions with murder or attempted murder since Roe's fall in 2022, but few of those prosecutions have advanced far. In a similar case in Georgia, prosecutors in 2015 dropped a murder charge against a woman who took abortion pills."

""This is just yet another attempt to criminalize abortion by avoiding the actual limits of the law," said Karen Thompson, legal director of the abortion rights advocacy group Pregnancy Justice."

Alexia Moore, 31, was charged with felony murder after presenting to a Georgia emergency room with severe abdominal pain following self-administration of misoprostol pills to terminate her pregnancy. Medical records indicated she delivered a 22-24 week-old female fetus with cardiac activity in December; the newborn died within an hour. Police questioned Moore in the hospital and filed charges this month, representing the first felony murder charge in Georgia since the state enacted a six-week abortion ban following the Supreme Court's Dobbs decision. While other states have charged women with murder or attempted murder related to abortion since Roe's reversal, few prosecutions have advanced significantly. Abortion rights advocates argue this case represents an attempt to criminalize abortion beyond existing legal limits.

Read at The Washington Post