In December 2018, Marshae Jones was involved in an altercation with Ebony Jemison. According to police in Pleasant Grove, Alabama, on the afternoon of Dec. 4, 2018, 27-year-old Jones got into a fight with 23-year-old Jemison over the father of Jones' unborn child.
AL.com reported that police said Jones, who was five months pregnant, instigated the fight outside a Dollar General, causing Jemison to shoot in defense.
Jemison shot Jones in the stomach, AL.com reported. Jones was taken to USAB Hospital and went into surgery. The baby girl did not survive.
Jemison was charged with manslaughter but a grand jury failed to indict her and the charges were dismissed.
“When a five-month pregnant woman initiates a fight and attacks another person, I believe some responsibility lies with her as to any injury to her unborn child,’’ Pleasant Grove police Lt. Danny Reid said at the time of the shooting. "That child is dependent on its mother to try to keep it from harm, and she shouldn’t seek out unnecessary physical altercations.”
Now, Jones is being indicted for her unborn baby's death.
AL.com reported that a grand jury indicted Jones on manslaughter charges and she was taken to Jefferson County Jail on $50,000 bond.
The Washington Post reported that a number of women's rights activists have been outraged by the indictment, particularly in light of Alabama's new abortion law, which only allows a woman to have an abortion if her life is at risk, if she has an ectopic pregnancy or if the unborn child has a deadly abnormality.
"Today, Marshae Jones was indicted for homicide when someone shot her in the stomach while she was pregnant, ending her pregnancy," Ilyse Hogue, NARAL Pro-Choice America president, tweeted Wednesday. "They said she 'started it.' The shooter went free. This (is) what 2019 looks like for a pregnant woman of color without means in a red state. This is now."
"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,’’ said Amanda Reyes, the executive director of the Yellowhammer Fund, part of the National Network of Abortion Funds, which provides funding for abortions in Alabama.
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