Georgia Woman’s Constitutional Rights Violated After Pregnancy Related Illegal Arrest

A Georgia woman has been illegally arrested and had her constitutional rights violated after a social worker told police officers that she terminated her pregnancy by taking abortion pills.

23-year-old Kenlissa Jones of Georgia has been arrested and charged with malice murder and possession of a dangerous drug because she terminated her own pregnancy with LEGAL abortion medication. She is being falsely imprisoned in the Dougherty County jail.

In a statement, the group National Advocates for Pregnant Women said that there are no criminal statutes back up the arrest, “There are no criminal statutes in Georgia that permit punishment of women based on pregnancy or pregnancy outcomes — and the constitution, as well as human rights principles, prohibit such punitive laws directed to pregnant women….We call on leading anti-abortion organizations, who have publicly and repeatedly said that they oppose punishing women for having abortions, to stand with Kenlissa Jones and against the growing use of criminal laws to punish women for abortions or pregnancy outcomes. People who seek medical attention for any aspect of pregnancy — including prenatal care, labor and delivery, miscarriage, stillbirth, or abortion — should not fear arrest. There is no role for police or prosecutors in reproductive health. Public health, fairness to pregnant women, and fundamental principles of human rights and dignity prohibit the use of state power to arrest and punish women for being pregnant and for the outcomes of their pregnancies.”

To get more stories like this, subscribe to our newsletter The Daily.

Jones is not alone. Anne Bynum in Arkansas was arrested for “concealing a birth”, and “abuse of a corpse” after she took medication to terminate her pregnancy at home. Purvi Patel of Indiana was convicted and is serving 20 years in prison for what Indiana called feticide.

Enough is enough.

Women are having their constitutionally-protected rights violated and further, being arrested and thereby falsely imprisoned to serve a religious ideology that has no place overtaking constitutionally-protected rights. What needs to happen here is Jones’ family need to sue the state of Georgia, the police department that is illegally detaining her, the police officer who arrested her and District Attorney Greg Edwards who continues to hold her, in spite of being told that the law doesn’t support their charges or arrest.