The Daily Populous Saturday March 29th, 2025 night edition
Authored by thegeorgiasun.com and submitted by johnboy43214321

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.

Warren also clarified that his office did not participate in the warrant process in this case.

Change Log: Updated March 28 at 12:53 p.m. to add information from the District Attorney’s office.

TheWasabinator on March 28th, 2025 at 19:28 UTC »

"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."

So they asked what she was supposed to do with the fetus and nobody had an answer. If you can't tell her what she did wrong, why was she arrested? Just because she probably didn't have a healthcare plan that would pay for it?

Marcellusk on March 28th, 2025 at 19:07 UTC »

"The coroner’s office ruled it to be a occurring miscarriage"

I don't know if there's an official procedure of what to do with remains of a child when you have a miscarriage, but to jail and punish a mother for having one? I mean... it's a miscarriage. Did they want her to keep it in the fridge until the damn coroner can pick it up or something? Geeze! It's already traumatizing enough.

me0w_z3d0ng on March 28th, 2025 at 19:05 UTC »

You know what will help that person deal with the trauma of a miscarriage? The trauma of an arrest. That will surely improve her life /s