Petition Seeks To Release Woman Indicted In Death Of Unborn Baby

BIRMINGHAM, AL - A woman who was indicted for manslaughter after her unborn child died in a shooting is receiving a bevy of national support. When news broke of the indictment against Martae Jones Wednesday, social media buzzed and advocacy groups jumped at the chance to come to her aid, including the creation of an online petition for her release.

Jones was indicted after the woman who shot her was acquitted of charges, as authorities determined that the shooter was acting in self defense.

A Change.org petition has been circulating online to free Jones. As of Thursday morning, more than 400 people have signed the petition. The National Abortion Federation also came to Jones' defense, urging followers to donate to the Yellowhammer Fund, an advocacy group formed to get Alabama women access to abortion services.

Planned Parenthood made a statement on the matter, saying, "While shocking, this case clearly delineates in the most gruesome terms what we already know: That women’s lives are not valued."

Shaunna Thomas, co-founder and executive director of UltraViolet, a leading national women’s group, said, "This is the toxic collision of the everyday racism, sexism, and violence experienced by Black women and the terrifying end point of the dangerous anti-choice laws spreading across the country, including in Alabama, that devalue, dehumanize and criminalize women."

Thomas added, "Instead of treating Marshae Jones with compassion after being shot and losing her pregnancy, Alabama has decided to further her trauma and the injustice she has already experienced by charging her, not the person who shot her, with a crime. Pleasant Grove police Lt. Danny Reid even went so far as to say that the ONLY victim of the shooting was Jones’ unborn baby.

“This is part of a larger pattern of how our criminal justice system permits and furthers violence and abuse against Black women, and it is unacceptable.”

The National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League weighed in as well:

The shooting happened Dec. 4, 2018, outside Dollar General on Park Road in Pleasant Grove. Officers were dispatched to the scene on a report of someone shot but arrived to find the shooting victim – later identified as Jones - had been picked up and driven to Fairfield.

Police initially charged 23-year-old Ebony Jemison with manslaughter, but the charge against Jemison was dismissed after the grand jury failed to indict her. Evidence and witnesses to the incident said Jones instigated the conflict and that Jemison was acting in self defense.

This is where the case becomes convoluted. Because Jones reportedly instigated the conflict and escalated it, it led to her being shot, which placed her unborn child in harm's way. Hence, authorities say, Jones was the cause of her unborn baby's death.

"The investigation showed that the only true victim in this was the unborn baby,'' Pleasant Grove police Lt. Danny Reid said at the time of the shooting. "It was the mother of the child who initiated and continued the fight which resulted in the death of her own unborn baby."

Alabama passed the most restrictive abortion ban in the country in May, opening the door to prosecute doctors for performing abortions, and attempting to establish a fetus as a human being with all legal rights.

Although the law has not gone into effect and faces legal opposition, this incident has further outraged opponents of Alabama's abortion policies.