Georgia woman charged with murder after allegedly taking abortion pills

A 31-year-old U.S. Army veteran and mother of two has become the first woman in Georgia charged with murder under the state’s restrictive abortion law after she delivered a premature infant who died shortly after birth.

Alexia Moore remains in the Camden County jail with bail set at $29,150 for charges of felony murder, possession of a controlled substance, and possession of dangerous drugs.

The charges stem from a Dec. 30 hospital visit when Moore, then approximately 22 to 24 weeks pregnant, arrived at Southeast Georgia Health System’s Camden Campus reporting severe abdominal pain.

Doctors delivered a premature baby girl who exhibited cardiac activity and struggled to breathe before dying within about one hour, according to police reports.

The case marks the first time Georgia prosecutors have applied the state’s 2019 Living Infants Fairness and Equality (LIFE) Act, which prohibits terminating a pregnancy once embryonic cardiac activity is detectable at roughly six weeks of pregnancy, to bring murder charges against a woman for an alleged self-managed abortion.

A hospital security guard, a retired Camden County sheriff’s deputy, contacted Kingsland Police after emergency room staff reported that Moore had taken medication to end her pregnancy, according to an arrest report.

Police cited Moore’s medical records, blood work, and the deceased infant’s blood work as evidence.

According to the arrest warrant, Moore told nursing staff: “I know my infant is suffering, because I am the one who did the abortion. I want her to die.”

The warrant alleges Moore took misoprostol, a medication commonly used to induce abortion, along with oxycodone. Misoprostol is used in obstetrics and gynecology for abortion up to 11 weeks, managing incomplete miscarriages, and treating postpartum hemorrhage. It is also approved to prevent NSAID-induced gastric ulcers.

Due to its wide-ranging applications in reproductive health, misoprostol is on the World Health Organization Model List of Essential Medicines.

Officers recovered a blue medicine bottle labeled with Moore’s name and “Misoprostol” bearing a fill date of Nov. 20, 2025, but lacking a physician’s name, pharmacy name or warning labels — leading investigators to conclude the pills were purchased online.

Moore’s mother, Bishop Dr. Edith Marie Moore-Terry, a pastor at Emmanuel Christian Center, said her daughter served in the Army and was discharged with 100% disability benefits after a diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder. She described her daughter as an excellent mother to her two sons, ages 6 and 9.

“As a mother, and me talking as a grandma, she’s an excellent mother,” Edith Moore said. “I believe her children are her life.”

The elder Moore said she first learned of her daughter’s pregnancy on New Year’s Day, after the emergency room visit. She said her daughter is experiencing postpartum depression while in custody and is being held in a cell alone with medical monitoring.

“She never could understand being adopted. I believe that was traumatic,” Edith Moore said of her daughter. “I believe going into the military and winding up with PTSD… It was trauma after trauma.”

A friend who spoke with Moore before the hospital visit offered a different account, telling The Current that Moore had not taken abortion pills but had taken a prescription pain pill. The friend, who declined to be identified due to the ongoing criminal investigation, said she offered to raise the child if Moore felt unable to do so.

“I remember her calling me, freaking out. She was bawling her eyes out. She said she didn’t know what to do,” the friend said.

Camden County Sheriff Kevin Chaney defended the hospital security guard’s decision to involve law enforcement, noting that security personnel at the facility are sworn peace officers.

“They’re law enforcement at the hospital, so they’re not just security officers,” Chaney said, a Republican who ran against his former boss, unseating Democratic incumbent Sheriff Jim Proctor, on November 5, 2024. “They’re actually sworn peace officers in the state of Georgia. And plus your mandated reports and stuff like that. Along those lines, we share information constantly.”

Southeast Georgia Health System declined to answer questions about whether the security guard followed hospital policy or about the circumstances under which the facility shares patient information with law enforcement.

“The hospital places the highest priority on the care of its patients and is unable to comment on matters that might relate to patient care,” said Marketing Director Jenni Morris.

Legal experts say the case tests the boundaries of Georgia’s abortion law, which includes exemptions for medical emergencies but does not explicitly exempt women who end their own pregnancies from criminal prosecution.

A 2015 case in Georgia involving similar charges against a woman who took abortion pills was dropped by prosecutors, who concluded state law did not permit prosecuting women for terminating their pregnancies before the enactment of the 2019 LIFE Act, which significantly tightened restrictions.

The LIFE Act prohibits most abortions once a fetal heartbeat is detected, typically around six weeks of gestation. Passed on May 15, 2019, it includes exceptions for rape, incest, medical emergencies, and cases where the pregnancy is not viable, while granting personhood to the fetus.

“Murder is intentionally causing the death of a person,” said Andrew Fleischman, a Georgia defense attorney not involved in the case. “I’m not sure prosecutors are eager to be the first one to jump this hurdle.”

Dana Sussman, senior vice president of the advocacy group Pregnancy Justice, said the organization has documented at least 210 women across the country charged with crimes related to their pregnancies in the 12 months after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022 — the highest number in any 12-month period the group has tracked.

“No one should be criminalized for having an abortion,” Sussman said.

A hearing for Moore is scheduled for Monday. The district attorney will determine whether to present the case to a grand jury for indictment.

Edith Moore said her daughter’s two young children do not understand why their mother is in jail.

“She is a decent person who is caught up in her circumstances,” she said.