A 31-year-old woman from the southeastern US state of Georgia has been charged with murder by police, reports the Associated Press. Law enforcement officials accuse the young woman of having caused an illegal abortion by ingesting pills.
According to the Kingsland police arrest warrant, they determined Alexia Moore was more than six weeks pregnant “based on medical personnel’s knowledge that the baby had a racing heart and was having difficulty breathing.”
The law in force in Georgia prohibits most abortions as soon as a “heartbeat can be detected”, that is to say around six weeks of pregnancy, a time when many women are still unaware they are pregnant.
This 2019 text could only come into force in July 2022, after the decision of the Supreme Court reviewing the Roe v. Wade, decision allowing each state to legislate on access to abortion.
“No one should be considered a criminal for having an abortion,” responded Dana Sussman, vice-president of the women’s rights association Pregnancy Justice, in a statement. According to her, the murder charge is “unprecedented for an alleged abortion.”
