Tuesday, December 04, 2007

Woman Charged with Murder for Stillbirth

Via brownfemipower at Women of Color Blog, we read the following message from the Executive Director of National Advocates for Pregnant Women:

As you know, we've been doing our best to fight injustice in Oklahoma, where we've been working since 2004 on behalf of Theresa Hernandez, a woman charged with first-degree murder for suffering a stillbirth. The prosecutor attributed the pregnancy loss to her drug use despite the fact that no medical evidence links methamphetamine use with stillbirths.

[snip]

In spite of our best efforts, this past September Ms. Hernandez — worn out from nearly four years in jail without contact visits from her children and dreading the possibility of a life sentence — accepted the prosecutor�s reduced plea of second-degree murder. This would ordinarily be the end of the story. Instead, NAPW and our local allies are turning this development into an opportunity to educate the community, demand that such prosecutions never happen again, and ensure that the community knows that — plea or no plea — Ms. Hernandez is not a murderer.

Go read the whole thing
My only comment is that the perfect title was selected by brownfemipower: There is no justice when a woman does time for a non-existent crime

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