Woman faces murder charge after allegedly taking abortion medication
Bottles of the drug misoprostol sit on a table at the West Alabama Women’s Center in March 2022 in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. (Photo by Allen G. Breed/The Associated Press)
A woman who allegedly took abortion-inducing pills, after which the baby was delivered and later died, has been arrested and charged with murder. A judge in Georgia, where the woman resides, however, expressed some concerns about the charge during a hearing Monday.
Alexia Moore, 31, of Georgia allegedly consumed about eight misoprostol pills that she purchased online—a typical dose of the medication—and later was rushed to a Georgia hospital Dec. 30 after suffering severe abdominal pain.
The baby girl was declared dead shortly being delivered by a medical team. Moore was arrested two months later, the warrant stating that she “unlawfully and with malice aforethought caused the death of Baby Girl Moore,” according to a story by the New York Times.
After the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022 and ended the constitutional right to an abortion, Georgia and other states instituted severely restrictive abortion laws.
“I think that charge is extremely problematic,” said Judge Steven G. Blackerby of the Brunswick Judicial Circuit Superior Court in Georgia. “That is going to be a hard charge to convict upon.”
Blackerby set Moore’s bail at $1. In addition, Moore faces a charge for felony drug possession for allegedly having oxycodone without a prescription, according to the arrest report.
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