Alabama Woman Indicted For Death Of Her Unborn Baby From 2018 Shooting

In this image, Lake County, Indiana police officers secure the area near the scene of a reported sniper shooting in Hammond, Indiana, July 28, 2006 Scott Olson/Getty Images

An Alabama woman has been indicted for the death of her unborn baby after being shot in 2018.

The shooting occurred outside of a General Dollar store in Pleasant Grove, Alabama, on December 4, 2018. Police rushed out to the scene after receiving a call about someone being shot outside the store. However, when they arrived, there was no sign of the victim, later identified as Birmingham-native Marshae Jones. She was instead found outside a convenience store in Fairfield, Alabama, later on where she revealed she had been picked up and driven there.

Once found, Jones was rushed to UAB Hospital in Birmingham to receive treatment for her stomach wound. It was there authorities learned she was five months pregnant and the baby did not survive the gunshot.

The initial investigation led to the arrest of 23-year-old Ebony Jemison on charges of manslaughter for the unborn baby’s death. The charges against Jemison would later be dropped after a grand jury failed to indict her.

Police attention then shifted to Jones as investigators learned the argument stemmed from Jones. She had confronted Jemison about the baby’s father and refused to back off from Jemison. Instead, Jones escalated the fight, forcing Jemison to defend herself according to investigators.

“The investigation showed that the only true victim in this was the unborn baby,” Pleasant Grove police Lt. Danny Reid said on the shooting. “It was the mother of the child who initiated and continued the fight which resulted in the death of her own unborn baby.”

Jones indictment has been met with severe criticism from women’s rights groups, especially in light of recent restrictions placed on abortion within Alabama.

“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,” Yellowhammer Fund Executive Director Amanda Reyes said in a statement.