UPDATE: Latice Fisher was released from jail with a reduced bail -- but the murder charges remain and District Attorney Scott Colom is refusing to drop the charges. 

Latice Fisher sits in a Mississippi jail alone and scared with an unnecessary bail set at a staggering $100,000 bond, charged with second-degree murder charges related to the outcome of her pregnancy. In April 2017, Latice's pregnancy ended at home. The District Attorney's office decided to respond to her situation by arresting her and charging with murder. DA Scott Colom is reaching far to find everything to use against her. In fact, he decided to seek an indictment against Mrs. Fisher, before seeking funds from the state and its citizens for experts that should have been consulted before the decision to arrest Ms. Fisher. According to court documents, DA Scott Colom searched her phone records internet searches, because it found searches for "abortion pill." It is certainly legal to conduct internet searches on your phone. This is an attack on Black women's reproductive freedom. 

Latice's story is a part of a long and frightening list of women who are being criminalized for the outcome of their pregnancies. In Mississippi alone, women, especially Black women are being criminalized for their pregnancies and the outcomes of those pregnancies including, abortions, miscarriages, and stillbirths. District Attorney Scott Colom leads the office that is prosecuting Latice Fisher. DA Scott Colom ran on a criminal justice and prosecutorial reform platform. In 2016 he defeated the longstanding, 25-year "tough on crime" incumbent DA Forrest Allgood who himself misused his authority to prosecute Renne Gibbs, a Black teenager who experienced a stillbirth. Now, ironically, Colom is using his elected position to punish a woman for enduring a painful, emotional experience with her pregnancy. DA Scott Colom must drop the charges now against Latice Fisher. 

Latice Fisher deserves justice. 

Here is the Petition:

Latice Fisher deserves justice and compassion, not imprisonment. A woman who is experiencing a pregnancy cannot determine or know for certain the outcome of her pregnancy. It is unjust and cruel to charge her, or any woman with a crime because of her pregnancy or its outcome. In the state of Mississippi, women's access to quality, safe, and affordable health care is extremely limited. Women are enduring the constant battle for the right to control and make decisions about their health including their maternal and reproductive health. Criminalizing women for their pregnancies is unconstitutional, unethical, and just plain wrong. Latice deserves justice to remain free at home with her husband and children and not behind bars.