Today, a Kings County judge will weigh whether to reopen the case of Adora Perez, who has served nearly four years of an 11-year prison sentence for “manslaughter of a fetus” — the stillborn baby she delivered minutes after testing positive for methamphetamine.
The case has pitted a popular rural prosecutor against Attorney General Rob Bonta, who recently warned law enforcement officials not to file charges against mothers who miscarry or deliver a stillbirth.
The case has also alarmed abortion rights advocates, who fear it could open the door to criminally prosecuting women who decide to terminate their pregnancies, CalMatters’ Nigel Duara reports.
Samantha Lee, staff attorney at National Advocates for Pregnant Women: “With the possibility that Roe (v. Wade) might fall this year, letting this stand could increase these types of prosecutions.”
The high-stakes hearing comes a few days after Gov. Gavin Newsom made good on his promise to introduce a gun control bill modeled on Texas’ controversial abortion ban — which the U.S. Supreme Court declined to block — allowing private citizens to sue abortion clinics or anyone who “aids or abets” the procedure after about six weeks of pregnancy.
