/cloudfront-us-east-2.images.arcpublishing.com/reuters/AK6EX3LXYFNT7GRYOWWOM36CNQ.jpg "Alabama case over mistaken pregnancy highlights risks in a post-Roe world")
(Reuters) – An ongoing lawsuit in Alabama typifies the far-reaching criminalization of girls enabled by some anti-abortion ideology and the U.S. Supreme Court docket’s latest ruling overturning Roe v. Wade.
A ruling within the matter, which entails a girl merely suspected of being pregnant, might be a bellwether for varied circumstances relitigating girls’s rights within the wake of the excessive court docket’s determination.
Etowah County officers are going through what seems to be the primary lawsuit within the state alleging false imprisonment as a result of a girl who was jailed for exposing her unborn baby to medicine wasn’t pregnant – though it isn’t the primary time such dystopian injustice has performed out in Alabama.
Stacey Freeman, who’s in search of compensatory and punitive damages, was below investigation by a household providers company for substance abuse when her daughter incorrectly advised social employees that Freeman was pregnant, in line with her Nov. 7 grievance. Freeman stated she supplied to take a being pregnant check, but it surely wasn’t administered.
Sheriff’s investigator Brandi Fuller later issued a “patently false” warrant saying Freeman examined constructive for amphetamines, in line with the grievance. She was arrested for “chemical endangerment” days later, the grievance stated, by sheriff’s deputies who stopped to help her with a flat tire.
Sheriff Jonathon Horton and Fuller didn’t reply to questions for this column.
Freeman stated she was pressured to supply a urine pattern in jail — which confirmed she wasn’t pregnant. She was launched solely after Fuller “admonished” her, saying she can be charged if she have been to get pregnant inside the subsequent few months, in line with the grievance.
Freeman’s ordeal is stunning, to make certain. But, officers in Shelby County, Alabama, greater than seven years in the past introduced and later dismissed chemical endangerment expenses towards a girl who additionally wasn’t pregnant, AL.com reported in June 2015. And, in 2019, an Alabama grand jury indicted a girl who misplaced her unborn child when she was shot, after declining to cost the shooter as a result of it discovered she had fired in self-defense.
These circumstances display the senselessness and really actual risks of the “fetal personhood” argument – which holds that the legislation ought to grant full personhood rights to fetuses and even fertilized eggs. The concept has been used to help efforts to punish girls for conduct thought-about dangerous to pregnancies or for in search of abortions — a place that even the Republican institution and anti-abortion motion leaders have beforehand rejected as radical.
Khiara M. Bridges, a professor on the College of California Berkeley Faculty of Legislation, advised me the speculation is a throughline within the circumstances.
“These efforts are clearly premised on the concept fetuses have rights that supersede any curiosity the pregnant individual might have,” Bridges stated.
The concept has been used to increase baby safety insurance policies to fetuses. It is also a backdoor tactic geared toward criminalizing abortion, in line with a 2014 legislation assessment article by Rachel Suppe, an lawyer for the Nashville, Tennessee, legislation division (Merely put, abortion turns into homicide if fetuses are “individuals” as a matter of legislation.)
And the notion does in reality underlie ongoing efforts within the wake of the Supreme Court docket’s June anti-abortion determination.
The excessive court docket did not resolve whether or not fetuses have personhood rights in that case, and it additionally declined to settle the query final month. Nonetheless, the truth that the Supreme Court docket left the difficulty open for states to resolve signifies that some will certainly transfer to take action — and overzealous police and prosecutors will proceed to criminalize folks they believe are pregnant.
Georgia handed a so-called “fetal heartbeat” invoice that was not allowed to take impact till after the Supreme Court docket overturned abortion rights, for instance. Arizona handed an identical legislation recognizing personhood from the second of fertilization, though a court docket has blocked that measure.
Martin Weinberg, who represents Freeman, advised me her case “is a manifestation of why that is simply not a practical method” to go about defending infants or girls.
Etowah County is the epicenter of being pregnant criminalization, Emma Roth, a employees lawyer with Being pregnant Justice, advised me.
The group has tracked the criminalization of girls and being pregnant – greater than 1,300 arrests and detentions that wouldn’t have occurred if the individual weren’t pregnant or suspected to be – since 1973. Presently, Alabama prosecutes extra pregnant folks than some other state, and Etowah County leads with greater than 150 circumstances since 2010.
Advocates argue that fetal personhood is a brief, slippery slope to just about unfettered regulation of anybody who could also be pregnant: strenuous bodily exercise, smoking, consuming and medical procedures, like chemotherapy, are doubtlessly dangerous to fetuses, for instance.
In observe, it has led to criminalization and elevated state management over girls – largely Black girls, traditionally, and completely low-income girls, typically.
A disproportionate and overwhelming variety of detentions associated to being pregnant because the Eighties — greater than 50% — have been introduced towards Black girls, in line with analysis by Lynn Paltrow, a lawyer and former director of Being pregnant Justice, and Jeanne Flavin, a sociologist at Fordham College.
Certainly, no empirical or anecdotal proof seems to exist documenting the prosecution of middle- to upper-class girls for these crimes, Cortney Lollar, professor on the College of Kentucky School of Legislation, wrote in 2017.
Furthermore, the underlying premises are merely improper — and the insurance policies don’t really defend fetuses or coerce pregnant folks to make wholesome selections, analysis reveals.
Meghan Boone, a professor at Wake Forest College Faculty of Legislation, and Benjamin McMichael, an economist and professor on the College of Alabama Faculty of Legislation, analyzed the impression of Tennessee’s 2014 fetal endangerment legislation — which expired two years later — in a 2021 paper. They discovered “constant proof” that outcomes worsened below the legislation.
Eighty extra toddler deaths occurred in 2015 as a direct results of the legislation, they wrote. The outcomes urged that moms have been forgoing prenatal care out of worry of prosecution.
Freeman’s ordeal, then, is only one hanging instance of the pitfalls of importing fetal personhood into the legislation, and people myriad dangers to girls will persist as long as the Supreme Court docket stays silent on the matter.
Our Requirements: The Thomson Reuters Belief Ideas.
Abe Bonowitz of Death Penalty Action leads a demonstration outside the Capitol in Montgomery, Ala., on Monday, Nov. 18, 2024, against a scheduled execution in Alabama using nitrogen gas.
Kim Chandler/AP
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Kim Chandler/AP
ATMORE, Ala. — An Alabama man convicted in the 1994 killing of a hitchhiker cursed at the prison warden and made obscene gestures with his hands shortly before he was put to death Thursday evening in the nation’s third execution using nitrogen gas.
Carey Dale Grayson, 50, was executed at the William C. Holman Correctional Facility in southern Alabama. He was one of four teenagers convicted of killing Vickie DeBlieux, 37, as she hitchhiked through the state on the way to her mother’s home in Louisiana. The woman was attacked, beaten and thrown off a cliff.
Alabama began using nitrogen gas earlier this year to carry out some executions. The method involves placing a respirator gas mask over the face to replace breathable air with pure nitrogen gas, causing death by lack of oxygen.
Alabama Corrections Commissioner John Q. Hamm said the nitrogen flowed for 15 minutes and an electrocardiogram showed Grayson no longer had a heartbeat about 10 minutes after the gas began flowing.
Like two others previously executed by nitrogen, Grayson shook at times before taking a periodic series of gasping breaths.
The victim’s daughter told reporters afterward that her mother had her future stolen from her. But she also spoke out against the decision to execute Grayson and “murdering inmates under the guise of justice.”
The curtains to the execution room were opened shortly after 6 p.m. Strapped to a gurney with a blue-rimmed gas mask on his face, Grayson responded with an obscenity when the warden asked if he had any final words. Prison officials turned off the microphone. Grayson appeared to speak toward the witness room where state officials were present, but his words could not be heard. He raised both middle fingers at the start of the execution.
It was unclear when the gas began flowing. Grayson rocked his head, shook and pulled against the gurney restraints. He clenched his fist and appeared to struggle to try to gesture again. His sheet-wrapped legs lifted off the gurney into the air at 6:14 p.m. He took a periodic series of more than a dozen gasping breaths for several minutes. He appeared to stop breathing at 6:21 p.m., and then the curtains to the viewing room were closed at 6:27 p.m.
Grayson was pronounced dead at 6:33 p.m.
DeBlieux’s mutilated body was found at the bottom of a bluff near Odenville, Alabama, on Feb. 26, 1994. She was hitchhiking from Chattanooga, Tennessee, to her mother’s home in West Monroe, Louisiana, when the four teens offered her a ride. Prosecutors said the teens took her to a wooded area and attacked and beat her. They returned to mutilate her body.
A medical examiner testified that her face was so fractured that she was identified by an earlier X-ray of her spine. Investigators said the teens were identified as suspects after one of them showed a friend one of DeBlieux’s severed fingers and boasted about the killing.
DeBlieux’s daughter Jodi Haley spoke with reporters at the media center on prison property after the execution. Haley was 12 when her mother was killed, She said her mother had her life and future stolen from her.
“She was unique. She was spontaneous. She was wild. She was funny. She was gorgeous to boot,” Haley said of her mother.
She said Grayson was abused in every possible way in his youth but “society failed this man as a child, and my family suffered because of it.”
“Murdering inmates under the guise of justice needs to stop,” she said, adding that “no one should have the right to take a person’s possibilities, days, and life.”
Gov. Kay Ivey said afterward she was praying for the victim’s loved ones to find closure and healing.
“Some thirty years ago, Vicki DeBlieux’s journey to her mother’s house and ultimately, her life, were horrifically cut short because of Carey Grayson and three other men,” Ivey said in a statement. “She sensed something was wrong, attempted to escape, but instead, was brutally tortured and murdered.”
Grayson’s crimes “were heinous, unimaginable, without an ounce of regard for human life and just unexplainably mean. An execution by nitrogen hypoxia (bears) no comparison to the death and dismemberment Ms. DeBlieux experienced,” she added.
Grayson was the only one of the four teenagers who faced a death sentence since the other teens were under 18 at the time of the killing. Grayson was 19.
The execution was carried out hours after the U.S. Supreme Court turned down Grayson’s request for a stay. His final appeals had focused on a call for more scrutiny of the nitrogen gas method. His lawyers argued the execution method causes “conscious suffocation” and that the first two nitrogen executions did not result in swift unconsciousness and death as the state had promised.
Hamm said he thought some of Grayson’s initial movements were “all show” but maintained other movements exhibited by Grayson and the two others executed by nitrogen gas were expected involuntary movements, including the breathing at the end.
No state other than Alabama has used nitrogen hypoxia to carry out a death sentence. In 2018, Alabama became the third state — along with Oklahoma and Mississippi — to authorize the use of nitrogen gas to execute prisoners.
On June 12, it was announced that the Alabama men’s basketball team would be competing in the Players Era Festival in Las Vegas during Thanksgiving week this coming basketball season. The Players Era Festival is the first-ever NIL-based multi-team event for college basketball.
No. 8 Alabama joins No. 7 Houston, No. 24 Rutgers, Notre Dame, San Diego State, No. 14 Creighton, Oregon and No. 23 Texas A&M as the schools participating in the inaugural event. Each team will play two games and the head-to-head record, point differential, points scored and points allowed will all be factored in creating the seeding for a seventh place, fifth place, third place and of course championship game.
Total NIL Activities and Compensation:
The Crimson Tide’s two initial games will be against Houston on Nov. 26 and then Rutgers on Nov. 27.
Who: No. 8 Alabama (4-1, 0-0 SEC) vs. No. 7 Houston (2-1, 0-0 Big 12)
Who: No. 8 Alabama (3-1, 0-0 SEC) vs. No. 24 Rutgers (4-0, 0-0 Big Ten)
When vs. Houston: Tuesday, Nov. 26 at 8 p.m. CT.
When vs. Rutgers: Wednesday, Nov. 27 at 10 p.m. CT
Where (Both Games): MGM Grand Garden Arena, Las Vegas, Nev.
Radio (Both Games): Crimson Tide Sports Network (Play-By-Play: Chris Stewart, Color: Bryan Passink). The pregame show will begin one hour prior to tipoff.
TV (Both Games): TBS
Series vs. Houston: Tied 3-3 with the first matchup occurring on Dec. 28, 1956
Series vs. Rutgers: 0-0
Last meeting with Houston: The Crimson Tide outlasted Houston with a 71-65 victory. Future No. 2 overall NBA Draft pick Brandon Miller went 0-of-8 from the field, but future No. 21 overall pick Brandon Clowney saved the day with 16 points on 7-of-12 shooting while also recording team-highs in rebounds (11) and blocks (2).
Last meeting with Rutgers: Never
Last time out, Alabama: Following its first loss of the season on the road against then-No. 13 Purdue, the Crimson Tide brushed it off against No. 25 Illinois on Wednesday night by defeating the Fighting Illini 100-87. Preseason All-American point guard Mark Sears didn’t score a single point but the renowned Alabama depth more than made up for it as forward Grant Nelson tallied 23 points and guards Labaron Philon, Aden Holloway and Latrell Wrightsell Jr. each put up 16-plus points.
Last time out, Houston: Like Alabama, the Cougars also stormed back from its first loss of the season with a dominant 91-45 win over Louisiana. Terrance Arceneaux (14 points), Milos Uzan (13), Mercy Miller (12), Emanuel Sharp (11) and J’Wan Roberts (11) each putting up double figures. Sharp and Miller each logged four steals boosting the team total to 17.
Last time out, Rutgers: The Scarlet Knights extended their undefeated start to the season with a 74-63 win over Merrimack. Rutgers’ top-tier freshmen duo of Ace Bailey (23 points) and Dylan Harper (14) combined for nearly half of the team’s points. They also led in the rebounding category as Bailey grabbed 10 while Harper had eight and Harper’s six assists were also a Rutgers-best.
Kalen DeBoer calls them “gimmie kicks.” The head coach’s philosophy has always been to give his kickers as many opportunities from short-distance attempts early in the season in order to get them in a rhythm and build up their confidence.
That’s the plan anyway. Alabama’s big-play offense prevented that transition for Miami-Ohio transfer Graham Nicholson in his first season with the Crimson Tide this year.
Nicholson, who earned the Lou Groza Award last season, didn’t even attempt a field goal in Alabama’s first two games. He pushed his first attempt wide right from 46 yards out at Wisconsin in Week 3. After hitting a 28-yarder against Georgia two weeks later, he didn’t get another attempt until the Week 8 loss against Tennessee, where he went 1 of 2, coming up short on a 54-yard try before hitting the target from 35 yards out.
Since then Nicholson has been perfect, connecting on two field goals against Missouri as well as one last week against Mercer. Now it seems like the graduate kicker is finally finding his rhythm.
“Getting that first one is hard, and it took him a long time to get that first opportunity,” DeBoer said of Nicholson during his weekly radio show on Wednesday night. “It isn’t his fault. We were just scoring touchdowns and the opportunities didn’t present themselves the same way.
“He has been just steady since Day 1. We see him every day in practice. I think he’s getting more and more comfortable in our stadium in particular.”
DeBoer called the two kicks Nicholson made a Missouri “critical to Alabama’s 34-0 win over the Tigers. The first of which came from a season-long 47 yards out as the kicker helped the Tide put points on the board to cap off the game’s opening possession. From there, Nicholson helped a struggling Alabama offense get some momentum by hitting a 39-yarder to put the Tide up 6-0 late in the second quarter.
“Thought [the 47-yarder] was a big kick for us right there to get three points on the board,” DeBoer said. “And then he came back and did it again.”
While kicking isn’t DeBoer’s expertise, he said he still makes an effort to monitor his kicker’s reps during practice in order to get a good feel of what affects them and what went wrong during misses.
“A kicker might miss a kick in practice, and if you really weren’t paying attention, you might just think it was him,” DeBoer explained. “Well, it might have been the snap or the hold or something else. There’s other moving parts to that part. It might not solely fall on the kicker missing in practice, and you can quickly some thoughts about, ‘Well, he’s not in his groove right now,’ when really there were other factors that played a role in it.”
As for Nicholson, DeBoer believes he’s finally found his rhythm and should be able to return to his award-winning form to close out the season.
“He’s mentally strong,” DeBoer said. “He’s got a lot that he’s done in the past that he goes back to that gives him the confidence he has. You still got a new place and you gotta kind of reprove yourself. He’s done a good job of doing that.”
Last season, Nicholson made 27 of 28 field-goal attempts and 35 of 37 extra-point tries. That included an NCAA-record streak of 25 straight made field goals. Through 10 games at Alabama, he is 5 of 7 on field goals and has made all 48 of his extra-point tries.
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