By Jasper Ward
March 20 (Reuters) – A 31-year-old Georgia woman has been charged with murder after she took abortion medication and gave birth to a premature infant who died within hours, according to court documents and arrest records.
Alexia Moore was arrested, charged and jailed by local police earlier this month in coastal Camden County, Georgia, near the Florida border over the episode on December 30.
Nearly all abortions in Georgia are illegal after six weeks of pregnancy. Since the U.S. Supreme Court’s overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, eliminating the constitutional right to abortion, many states have adopted abortion bans.
While other states have sought to prosecute women who had abortions, it is rare they are charged with murder as Moore was. It will be up to state prosecutors to decide whether to move forward with the case.
Moore, who already has two young children, took the abortion medication misoprostol at home then was rushed to the Southeast Georgia Health System Camden Campus on December 30, after experiencing severe pain, according to a police report.
She informed staff of her pregnancy and said she had taken 200 mg of misoprostol before arriving at the emergency room. A friend later told police that Moore took the abortion pill because she did not want another child.
While at the health center, the 31-year-old gave birth to a premature girl who police described as having “major health issues.” Police said Moore also took illegal oxycodone, an opioid.
The newborn survived about an hour. The police report did not indicate weeks of gestation for the infant, but the Washington Post reported that Moore was between 22 and 24 weeks pregnant.
A lawyer for Moore could not immediately be reached for comment.
Dana Sussman, senior vice president at advocacy group Pregnancy Justice, said the Georgia case has no basis in the law and that it should be met with a vigorous defense on several grounds.
Georgia’s abortion law “does not contemplate murder charges for someone who has an abortion, and self-managing an abortion is not a criminal act in Georgia. Charging Ms. Moore with murder is cruel and unjust,” Sussman said in a statement.
Legal action by states that have banned or restricted abortion has largely been targeted at providers, including doctors who prescribe abortion medications remotely and dispense them through the mail.
Meanwhile, several Republican-led states including Texas and Florida are pursuing legal challenges to federal rules that have eased access to abortion drugs, including a 2023 regulation allowing them to be dispensed through the mail.
(Reporting by Jasper Ward; Additional reporting by Daniel Wiessner; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
