Kenlissia Jones abortion: US woman arrested on murder charges after 'taking abortion pills'

Kenlissia Jones reportedly said she did not want to continue the pregnancy after breaking up with her partner

Contraceptive pills (Getty)

A woman in the United States has been arrested on murder charges after reportedly taking abortion pills.

Kenlissia Jones, 23, from the state of Georgia, was arrested on 6 June and charged with murder and the possession of a dangerous drug after a hospital social worker told officers that she had taken the pills.

Ms Jones reportedly told the social worker that she did not want to continue the pregnancy after breaking up with her partner and she had taken four pills to terminate the pregnancy. The social worker called police to the hospital where she was subsequently arrested.

ABC News reports that both sides of the abortion debate in the state have been “stunned” by the arrest. Lynn Paltrow an attorney and executive director of the National Advocates for Pregnant Women told ABC: “We don’t believe there is any law in Georgia that allows for the arrest of a woman for the outcome of her pregnancy.”

Genevieve Wilson, who heads the pro-life group Right to Life said she believes it is the first case of its kind in the state: “I am very surprised by the arrest. And I’m thinking that perhaps whoever made the arrest may not have known what the laws really are.”

In 1998, an appeal court in the state ruled that a teenager who shot herself in the abdomen and delivered a stillborn foetus could not be prosecuted for performing an illegal abortion.

District Attorney Ged Edwards said he is currently reviewing the case. Ms Jones is currently being held at Georgia jail.