Georgia Woman Charged With Murder After Alleged Illegal Abortion

A 31-year-old woman in Georgia has been arrested and charged with murder after investigators say she used medication to end a pregnancy that authorities claim violated the state’s abortion law.

Police in Kingsland say the woman, Alexia Moore, took pills intended to induce an abortion even though the pregnancy had progressed beyond the point allowed under Georgia law. The charge could make the case one of the first times a woman in Georgia has faced a murder accusation related to terminating a pregnancy since the state approved a 2019 law that bans most abortions once embryonic cardiac activity is detected.

According to an arrest warrant, investigators concluded Moore was more than six weeks pregnant. The document states medical staff believed the fetus had a detectable heartbeat and was struggling to breathe after delivery.

Advocates for abortion rights criticized the arrest. Dana Sussman, with the group Pregnancy Justice, said in a statement that people should not face criminal penalties for having an abortion and described the case as an unprecedented use of a murder charge in connection with an alleged abortion.

Court documents say Moore went to a hospital on Dec. 30 complaining of severe abdominal pain. Medical personnel reported that she told them she had taken misoprostol, a medication commonly used in medication abortions, along with the opioid pain medication oxycodone. Investigators said the fetus was delivered at the hospital and survived for roughly an hour.

The warrant also states that Moore allegedly told hospital staff she knew the infant was suffering because she had caused the abortion and wanted the child to die.

Georgia law prohibits most abortions once embryonic cardiac activity can be detected, which usually occurs at around six weeks of pregnancy, often before many women realize they are pregnant.

Moore has been held in the Camden County jail since March 4 and faces charges of murder and illegal drug possession, according to jail records.

Camden County Coroner M. Wayne Peeples said he did not classify the death as a homicide. Instead, he ruled that both the cause and the manner of death could not be determined.

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