23-year-old woman charged with murder for aborting 5-month-old fetus
23-year-old woman charged with murder for aborting 5-month-old fetus
A 23-year-old woman has been charged with murder for aborting her five-month-old fetus.
Kenlissa Jones took a Cytotec abortion pill on Saturday night which she purchased on the internet from a source in Canada.
She delivered the baby boy in her neighbor’s car as they drove to the hospital in Albany, south Georgia, but the child died within 30 minutes.
In an unprecedented move for Georgian authorities, Jones was arrested and taken to the Dougherty County Jail where she was charged with malice murder.
The state prohibits abortions after the first trimester unless it is performed in a licensed hospital or by a licensed family doctor. Beyond 20 weeks, or four-and-a-half months, abortions cannot be authorized unless it is a medical emergency.
Dougherty County District Attorney Greg Edwards said the case will likely go before a grand jury and federal laws will need to be explored as they pave new legal ground.
Jones’s family expressed their shock to WALB-TV, adding that they did not know she was pregnant.
Rico Riggins, Jones’s brother who now holds custody of her one-year-old son, told the station he felt pain for both his sister and the aborted fetus.
‘Once she took those pills, from the way I’m understanding it, she was in a world of hurt for a while.
‘We didn’t even know she was pregnant. And so my first real reaction was like, why she keeping it away from us.
‘We lost what would have been a nephew for me. And everything. And then my sister.’
He appealed for understanding and privacy: ‘We’re coping the best we can. We’re hoping we get a lot of prayers. I don’t want anyone to be mad or upset with my family. At the end of the day they are doing the best we can.’
