Georgia District Attorney Drops Murder Charge for Woman Who Had Abortion in Car

The murder charge for a Georgia woman who had an abortion when she was five and a half months pregnant has been dropped by a local county prosecutor.

Dougherty County District Attorney Greg Edwards said Wednesday that he will be dismissing a murder charge against 23-year-old Kenlissia Jones, who reportedly ingested four Cytotec pills with the intention to abort her fetus when she was five and a half months pregnant.

Jones reportedly gave birth to the fetus in a car while on the way to the hospital, and the fetus lived outside of her body for thirty minutes before it died.

District Attorney Edwards said in a statement Wednesday that after investigating the incident, he decided to drop the murder charge against Jones based on Georgia law regarding feticide.

 "I dismissed that malice murder warrant after thorough legal research by myself and my staff led to the conclusion that Georgia law presently does not permit prosecution of Ms. Jones for any alleged acts relating to the end of her pregnancy," Edwards said.

"Although third parties could be criminally prosecuted for their actions relating to an illegal abortion, as the law currently stands in Georgia, criminal prosecution of a pregnant woman for her own actions against her unborn child does not seem permitted," the district attorney added.

Genevieve Wilson, the director of the pro-life group Georgia Right to Life, told the Associated Press that through all her years working with the pro-life movement, she has never seen a situation like this one before.

"I have been involved in the pro-life movement for well over 20 years, and I'm not aware of a situation like this ever," Wilson told the media outlet, adding "I'm very surprised by it."