A 24-year-old Tifton woman faces criminal charges after experiencing a miscarriage, raising concerns about the application of Georgia’s strict abortion legislation.
What We Know: Selena Maria Chandler-Scott was arrested and charged with concealing the death of another person and abandonment of a dead body following a medical emergency on March 20. According to police reports, emergency services responded to Brookfield Mews Apartments around 6 a.m. Thursday after receiving a call about an unconscious woman who was bleeding. Medical personnel determined she had suffered a miscarriage and transported her to Tift Regional Medical Center for treatment.
Police claim a witness reported that Chandler-Scott had placed the fetal remains in a bag and disposed of it in a dumpster outside the apartment complex. Officers later recovered these remains, which were sent for autopsy.
The Autopsy: According to the autopsy, the fetus was 19 weeks old at the time of the miscarriage. There were no signs of trauma and the fetus did not take a breath. The coroner’s office ruled it to be a occurring miscarriage. At 19 weeks, a fetus is about the size of a mango and lungs are just beginning to develop but are not fully developed yet.
In Context: Georgia’s “heartbeat law,” officially the Living Infants Fairness and Equality (LIFE) Act, bans most abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy. The law also grants personhood status to embryos and fetuses, potentially exposing women who miscarry to criminal charges if authorities believe they contributed to the pregnancy loss or improperly handled fetal remains.
Reproductive rights advocates have warned that such laws could criminalize women experiencing pregnancy complications or miscarriages. According to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, miscarriages occur in about 10-20% of known pregnancies, with most happening in the first trimester.
What Should Women Who Miscarry Do?: We asked several Tifton Police Department and Tift County officials what women who miscarry should do with the remains of the fetus. So far, only Tift District Attorney Patrick Warren has answered and said typically miscarriages are not handled in this manner.
“There is no applicable case law on this issue as it is generally deemed a medical condition and prosecution is not warranted. Georgia courts have held that once a baby is ‘born alive and has had an independent and separate existence from its mother’ then what happens to the child (injury or death) will be subject to criminal prosecution,” Warren said.
No need brother, I’m Finnish.
I wear a leather jacket and have some abs so knifes won’t kill me as easy and guns are very rare in Finland. Also I do have a keychain that’s basically two finger brass knuckles and a pepper spray (which I might add is illegal in Finland). That’s honestly being somewhat highly armed for a Finn.
I didn’t used to have either but bought them a few months ago when I this junkie got mad at me for telling him the bus filled to the brim at 2pm isn’t the place to sing drunken karaoke.
I mean I could’ve prolly taken him, but I also know him from when I used to drink with my neighbour who sat like 10 years for murder, so I’d prefer not to get into a life or death situation with a person like that as either I’ll probably have to take a life or give mine and I’m not ready to give mine so…
Pepperspray should be enough to disable punks like that though without having to get physical. But you can get an assault charge for using one because you’d need a permit for one.
I do have a bow hanging by my door but the poundage is quite small.
I could legally get like a somewhat high powered air pistol. They even make like short shotgun models out of them and you can buy all sorts of nasty-ass arrows into them and the launch velocity is nothing to sniff at.
The rubber bullets would hurt, but they wouldn’t stop an assailant. But a few arrows to center mass? That could.
And I sure the steelballs, even once with rubber coating, make one think twice about approaching. But with the sawed off shotty that can be armed with arrows you only get two shots. Then there’s like basic pistol equivalents 0.43 balls 9 in a clip or smth. And a revolver and that can be loaded with sharp ammo as well. Like a tiny spike. The magazine ones don’t take those.
https://www.airsoftnet.fi/en/t4e-guns/2456-umarex-t4e-hdx-68-cal-40-joule-shotgun.html
Shit like that.
But no-one really needs them. You know what we do for home safety? Good doors, sturdy walls and proper locks.
Lmao
my rhetoric is aimed at americans. unless you’re coming to join us you can disregard my posts.
“You can’t talk to or about Americans if you’re not American”
Edit my point roughly earlier being just to chat and also Americans can buy these less-lethal weapons for defense as well. Sinking a 9mm slug into someone has a very high chance to kill I’d say compared to rubber bullets even if you roar and act like the Punisher and dish them out by the dozens. So like for people who don’t want to kill other people but still seek defensive capability…? Perhaps?
the best defense is a good offense
Also good doors are a pretty hood defense.
I know one Albanian born side who lived in NYC since he was like 2-3, so pretty much a native American. Dude told me it’s so weird how you “need two hands to open a door in Finland”.
I hadn’t thought of it, but yeah, sort of. You can open it one handed but it requires a bit of grip strength. Or sometimes you actually do require two hands, one to unlock the door and one to turn the handle.
Our locks are so good that lock picking lawyer has only picked the one that’s from like 1907. I don’t know whether anyone can pick the newer models, like even the older newer ones, like exec. And exec 2 is far more secure.
Is This Novelty Lock Better Than EVERY Master Lock?
This is a novelty lock with the 1907 patent. LPL says it’s as or more pick-resistant than any MasterLock.
This is what my door looks like. Eh. Some problem with image uploads but whatever. The guy who lived in NYC just said that “kicking down doors” really isn’t a movie thing, but that lots of apartment buildings in NYC really would have such flimsy doors you could just kick them in.
Guess we also have this because it’s weatherproofing at the same time.