A South Islander accused of causing the stillbirth of her baby is now fighting criminal charges for a second time.

A week after her arrest for the death of her unborn baby, the manslaughter charge against Morshade Jones is no more.

Texas District Attorney is filing a motion to dismiss the indictment against a woman who was charged with murder.

After authorities said, quote, she caused the death of an individual by self-induced abortion.

Long before the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, pregnant people have been criminally charged, convicted and imprisoned for failed pregnancies and stillbirths.

Advocates who have defended these people and even some prosecuting authorities say this is happening because laws that were never intended for that purpose are being used that way.

So if there's an attack on a pregnant woman that causes the loss of her pregnancy, one could be charged for both causing the harm to the pregnant woman herself and to the fetus.

But what some of these laws have been used for already and what we anticipate that they will be used for even more in this post-Roe world is the prosecution of the pregnant woman or the pregnant person themselves for pregnancy loss.

Dana Sussman is acting executive director for national advocates for pregnant women.

That's a group that documents and provides legal defenses in cases involving pregnant people charged with pregnancy-related crimes, including murder, manslaughter, and felony child neglect.

What we have seen and in cases where we have provided legal defense, mothers who experience a stillbirth or a miscarriage are blamed for that loss because of behavior or exposure of an alleged risk of harm to the fetus that they are then blamed for causing the pregnancy loss.

Many of these cases arise from illegal drug use by a pregnant person.

And while some people may feel that anyone who uses an illegal substance while pregnant deserves to be punished, Sussman says there is just too little conclusive evidence on the effects of these substances on pregnancy to justify that.

And she also says that pregnant people aren't just being prosecuted for using illegal drugs.

We have examples of cases who have used prescribed Adderall, who have used medical marijuana. We have had cases of women using prescribed painkillers for pre-existing conditions and have faced criminal charges.

In fact, Sussman says charges have stemmed from almost anything that law enforcement and prosecutors believe might have caused a pregnancy to end.

We have had cases where a woman has fallen down a flight of stairs while lightheaded during pregnancy and was charged with attempted fetus side because they suspected that she did it on purpose.

Consider this. Across the country, laws intended to protect pregnant people from violence and abuse are also being used to prosecute people whose pregnancies end prematurely.

With the repeal of row legal advocates for reproductive rights are bracing for an increase in cases of prosecution for miscarriages and still worse.

That's coming up. From NPR, I'm Michelle Martin. It is Saturday, July 2nd.

38 states in the country have a separate and unique crime for causing harm that results in the death of a fetus or fetal demise.

That's Dana Sussman again, acting executive director for national advocates for pregnant women. Even before row is overturned advocates like Sussman say, they worried about laws that were described as a way to address violence and abuse directed against pregnant people.

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