Social media is collectively raising its digital eyebrow after it was reported a pregnant Alabama woman was arrested on manslaughter charges after being shot in the stomach. After being transported to a local hospital, the woman survived the incident, the unborn child did not and Alabama prosecutors think the baby’s death is the mother’s fault.
Marshae Jones, 27 and the shooter, Ebony Jemison are said to have gotten into an argument outside Dollar General in Pleasant Grove on Dec. 4, 2018. The argument centered around the unborn child’s father. Now, six months after the encounter, a grand jury handed down an indictment citing Jones as the culprit in her child’s death.
“It was the mother of the child who initiated and continued the fight which resulted in the death of her own unborn baby,” Pleasant Grove police Lt. Danny Reid said. “The investigation showed that the only true victim in this was the unborn baby.”
“When a 5-month pregnant woman initiates a fight and attacks another person, I believe some responsibility lies with her as to any injury to her unborn child,” Reid continued.
When news of Jones’ case hit social media, many were flabbergasted at how a pregnant woman who was shot could be held responsible for her child’s death. The news of the manslaughter charge occurring in Alabama, just a month or so after the state passed the nation’s strictest abortion laws, only made the matters worse.
She was shot in the fucking stomach, and the cops said the only victim was the fetus she was carrying.
SHE WAS SHOT IN THE STOMACH. She’s been indicted for manslaughter for starting a fight that resulted in *someone else* shooting her.
What the fuck.
— Imani Gandy (@AngryBlackLady) June 27, 2019
If anybody else can, correct me. But the lack of assault and battery charges by Alabama tells me this isn't about justice; it's about creating a precedent to punish pregnant women for miscarrying. #MarshaeJones, a woman who had no control over the gun and was wounded herself
— MELANIN, Esq. (@M3L4NIN) June 27, 2019
https://twitter.com/JackieMichele/status/1144069483834667008
On Wednesday (June 26) Jones was set to be taken into the Jefferson County jail and held on $50,000 bond. The charges against the shooter, however, were dropped.
