Alexia Moore was arrested under a Georgia law that bans abortions after detection of embryonic cardiac activity
Edward Helmore at The Guardian:
A Georgia judge set a $1 bond for a woman facing murder charges tied to allegations she used abortion pills to end a pregnancy, potentially paving the way for a possible reduction or dismissal of charges.
Alexia Moore, 31, was arrested by police in Savannah earlier this month on a warrant that echoed a 2019 Georgia law banning abortions after embryonic cardiac activity can be detected. Moore was charged with murder after police determined she had been pregnant beyond six weeks “based on the medical staff’s knowledge that the baby had a beating heart and was struggling to breathe”.
Moore’s case is believed to be one of the first occasions of a woman being charged for terminating a pregnancy in Georgia since it passed a law banning most abortions and criminalized medical or hospital staff for aborting a fetus older than six weeks.
But superior court judge Steven Blackerby said during a bond hearing on Monday that he thought the charge to be “extremely problematic”, adding: “I have concerns that the state would ever be able to secure a conviction of malice murder.”
Moore had been incarcerated since her arrest on 4 March in Camden county. She was released on Monday after posting a bond of $2,001, including $1 for the murder charge and $1,000 each for two drug-related charges. Under Georgia law, Moore would still need to be indicted by a grand jury before the murder charge can move forward. Moore’s family told the Georgia news website the Current, that Moore, a US army veteran, who was arrested on 6 March, welcomed the decision to release her and interpreted the judge’s decision as favorable. “Have you ever heard of someone having a murder charge with $1 bail?” said Rosalyn Jones, Moore’s biological mother. “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.”
Judge Steven Blackerby sets a $1 bail for Alexia Moore, who was arrested and jailed on “murder” charges for using abortion pills to end a pregnancy due to Georgia’s heinous anti-abortion law HB481.
See Also:
Abortion, Every Day (Jessica Valenti): What to Know When a Pregnancy Arrest Goes Viral