Judge Slams Bogus Murder Charge Against Georgia Woman Who Allegedly Took Abortion Pills

Months after Georgia police charged a 31-year-old woman with first-degree murder for allegedly taking abortion pills to end her pregnancy, a state judge on Monday slammed the arrest, called it “extremely problematic,” and set her murder-charge bail at $1. Even though it’s not illegal to self-manage your abortion in Georgia. “That is going to be a hard charge to convict upon,” said Judge Steven Blackerby, per the New York Times. 

The woman (who Jezebel will not be naming) went to the hospital in December, complaining of pain after allegedly taking misoprostol—the second of two pills typically taken in a medication abortion. Instead, hospital staff called local police to report a “suspicious circumstance involving a female patient.” The police report, which was filed on Dec. 30, included several mistakes and factual inconsistencies, such as labeling misoprostol a “narcotic.” (More on this later.) A redacted version can be found here.

During Monday’s hearing, District Attorney Keith Higgins—the litigator who’s in charge of overseeing the proceedings and, perhaps not too unrelatedly, is so shit at his job that he’s the subject of an ongoing investigation because of his alleged financial mismanagement—said his office “didn’t advise” the police to arrest the woman on the murder charge, and that “whatever bond the defendant can make that will allow her to get out of jail is appropriate.” He acknowledged that under state law, someone can’t be charged with murder for ending their pregnancy, and that he wasn’t looking to bring the murder charge to a grand jury. But he also said he wasn’t ready to drop it. So…OK. 

“I have concerns that the state would ever be able to secure a conviction of malice murder,” the judge replied.

The arrest warrant also cites two counts of drug possession—one for misoprostol, and another for oxycodone, a painkiller. Alas, here’s your reminder that, within the hundreds of pregnancy-related arrests that have only shot upwards since Dobbs, accusing a pregnant person of substance abuse is the most common way states have tried to criminalize pregnancy. Because of her additional charges, the woman’s bail was set at $2,001. 

Per online jail records, she posted bail and was released Monday, after being in jail since March 4. Speaking to the Current following the hearing, her mother said, “Have you ever heard of someone having a murder charge with $1 bail? From looking at the evidence, I’m not the judge or the jury. All I can see is God has given her favor, that’s all I know.” In that case, God has a ton of slack to pick up.

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