‘I know my infant is suffering, because I am the one who did the abortion. I want her to die,’ the woman is quoted as having told hospital staff.
A Georgia woman has been charged with murder after taking the abortion drug misoprostol while in her second trimester.
Alexia Moore, 31, arrived at the hospital on December 30, complaining of abdominal pain. She told hospital employees she took the misoprostol — the second drug in the sequence to complete a chemical abortion — as well as oxycodone, according to Moore’s arrest warrant. The fetus survived an hour after it was delivered. The baby was premature and suffered serious health issues.
“I know my infant is suffering, because I am the one who did the abortion. I want her to die,” a police investigator wrote, quoting what Moore told hospital staff at the time.
Moore was arrested in March and has been in a Camden County jail since March 4. Court records show Moore’s attorney requested both a speedy trial and is seeking bond.
Georgia’s 2019 heartbeat law, House Bill 481, bans abortion after a fetal heartbeat is detected, which is usually around six weeks gestation, one of the strongest bills in the United States to protect unborn babies. The bill, however, includes exceptions up to 20 weeks for rape, incest, or to preserve the life of the mother.
Since Roe was overturned in 2022, several other states have charged women with murder or attempted murder for aborting babies after the limits prescribed by state law, but very few of those prosecutions have been successful. A Georgia district attorney dropped a murder charge against a woman who took abortion pills in 2015.
Georgia pro-life group Georgia Life Alliance said Moore is not charged with any crimes under the state’s LIFE Act.
“Ms. Moore is not being charged with crimes under Georgia’s LIFE Act. This innocent baby girl was born alive and under Georgia law, her death is being investigated and prosecuted like any other,” Georgia Life Alliance’s Executive Director, Elizabeth Edmonds, said in a press release.
This case should not be used to mischaracterize Georgia law criminalizing miscarriage or pregnancy outcomes, the press release reads.
“What this case highlights is the danger posed by illegal online abortion pill distributors operating outside the medical system,” Edmonds said. “These abortion profiteers prey on women’s fear and desperation, then ship powerful drugs through the mail into states without physician oversight – leading to death and tragedy, with no accountability.”
Moore told police she obtained the abortion drugs online and the oxycodone from a relative, according to the warrant.
States across the country have filed lawsuits to lessen the availability of abortion drugs like misoprostol, particularly in light of the suspension of in-person dispensing requirements during the Covid-19 pandemic under the Biden administration.
Louisiana, for example, filed a lawsuit against the Food and Drug Administration to end telehealth dispensing of abortion drugs, which not only lowers the threshold on who can purchase these drugs, but also allows them to flow into pro-life states that have abortion bans in place.
Florida and Texas also filed a lawsuit against the FDA, claiming the agency failed to thoroughly examine the safety of abortion drugs in its original approval of the pills in 2000.
In Moore’s case, court records say she was between 22 and 24 weeks pregnant, placing her well outside the six-week cap under Georgia’s heartbeat bill.
Moore’s baby was “a human being who was born alive and survived for one hour. Under Georgia law, the victim became a person at the moment of live birth,” according to the warrant. Under Georgia law, that baby was legally a person.
Moore’s next court hearing is scheduled for Monday.