Pregnant Woman Charged with Murder Claims Unborn Baby's Innocence and Requests Release from Prison

According to an attorney, a pregnant woman who is in jail in Florida and charged with murder is requesting to be released from custody, arguing that her unborn baby is innocent and is being "unlawfully held."

The lawyer, William Norris, explained that the fetus "didn't have a say" in the decision to incarcerate the mother. Natalia Harrell, the 24-year-old mother, has been in jail for seven months after she fatally shot another woman while riding in an Uber in Miami last July. At the time of her arrest, she was six weeks pregnant.

The petition filed last week claims that Harrell had a gun in her purse and "feared for her life and that of her unborn child." Additionally, it argues that the fetus "has not committed any crime," but is being detained in "deplorable conditions." Without relief, the fetus will "likely be brought into this world on the concrete floor of the prison cell."

The petition further contends that the mother has not received adequate medical attention while being incarcerated.

Norris stated that he was hired by the father-to-be and that he filed the petition on behalf of the fetus. The petition claims that the "unborn child is a person."

Last June, a pregnant woman in Texas was ticketed for driving in a high-occupancy carpool lane and argued that her unborn child should be counted as a second passenger. Her case garnered international attention since it occurred just five days after the US Supreme Court overturned the right to abortion established in Roe v. Wade, leaving the decision up to each state to regulate.

Norris stated that his petition, which would benefit Harrell, is "not a direct result" of the Supreme Court ruling but is "a consequence of that." "People are beginning to realize that an unborn child is a person," he added.