A Florida court has dismissed an 8-month-old pregnant inmate’s emergency petition for release based on the claim that her fetus has been denied adequate medical care, in a case that raises questions about how such arguments could be interpreted in court as anti-abortion activists seek to give legal rights to fetuses.
The 3rd District Court of Appeals dismissed the petition without prejudice to a decision in circuit court, arguing, in part, that it is unclear whether Natalia Harrell’s 24-year-old fetus has the right to file the petition first. place, and that his unborn status makes it too difficult to determine the facts of the case.
«Among other things, we do not believe we can adequately resolve whether the unborn child has standing to petition us given the inadequate record in this matter.» Friday’s opinion saying.
The initial request for release
The initial petition, filed February 16 in the Florida Court of Appeals for the Third District, demanded that the Miami-Dade Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation release the fetus, arguing that jail officials had failed to provide adequate prenatal care.
Harrell’s filing argued that officials failed or refused to bring the fetus to the attending OB/GYN doctor at Jackson Hospital, claiming that Harrell’s last visit was in October. The petition also argued that Harrell did not receive prescription vitamins or nutritional drinks during the course of her pregnancy.
It also alleged that Harrell and the fetus were kept in a cell block with the inmates who were housed there after fighting or breaking the rules.
«In the absence of immediate release…UNBORN CHILD will likely be brought into this world on the concrete floor of a prison cell, without the aid of qualified doctors and paramedics, and in the presence of violent criminals,» the filing said. initial.
In response, the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation and its director, James Reyes, argued that the petition should be dismissed, citing the care of Harrell and the fetus as a priority for the department and pointing to the fact that he had won more than 30 pounds while in custody due to proper nutrition.
Reyes’ response also claimed that Harrell “has been taken to at least four out-of-jail obstetric appointments, and notably refused a fifth,” and that she refused to take prenatal vitamins multiple times.
Reyes also stated in her presentation that Harrell will be transferred to the prison infirmary when her pregnancy reaches 36 weeks, at which time «she will receive a higher level of care, with nurses watching over her 24 hours a day, seven days a week.» weekdays». duration of her pregnancy. When she is ready for labor, she will be transported to Jackson Memorial Hospital to give birth, according to her filing.
Harrell is accused of fatally shooting a 28-year-old woman, Gladys Yvette Borcela, while they were riding in an Uber. She was arrested on a second-degree murder charge last July, charged in August and ordered held without bail, according to court documents.
Harrell pleaded not guilty to the charge on December 6, court records show. His trial is scheduled to begin on April 18.
In a motion filed last month, Harrell said he feared for his life when he shot the victim and would seek to have the case dismissed under Florida’s Stand Your Ground law, which allows people to claim immunity from legal action. forcing prosecutors to prove that the person was not justified in the use of force.
‘The unborn child has received absolutely no due process’
Attorney William Norris, who filed the petition on behalf of the fetus after the father hired him, could not immediately be reached for comment Tuesday.
He previously told NBC News that Harrell’s «unborn child» is a person with constitutional rights.
“Once you define an unborn child as a person, then the unborn child acquires constitutional rights that apply to anyone,” he said. “And specifically, in this case, that is the right not to be deprived of liberty without due process of law. And in this case, the unborn child has not received any due process at all.»
The discussion of when a fetus acquires legal rights has been at the center of abortion debates even before the Supreme Court ruled last June in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the case that overturned the constitutional right to abortion established in Roe v. Wade. .
More recently, anti-abortion legislators have sought to push through so-called fetal personality laws, which seek to grant fetuses legal rights in unconventional ways. In Virginia and Texas, for example, bills have been proposed to treat the fetus of a pregnant person as a passenger in a car, allowing the driver to use the carpool lane on highways.
Abortion rights activists argue that such laws serve to further restrict access to abortion and could affect stem cell research and access to in vitro fertilization.
Dobbs’ ruling also paved the way for cases like Harrell’s to be considered in court, said attorney and legal analyst Kendall Coffey, who is not related to this case. told NBC Miami.
“A woman’s right to abortion has been erased from the United States Constitution; What we’re starting to look at more closely is, what are the rights of an unborn child and at what point do they start to arrive? Coffey told the station.
Anti-abortion activists in Florida are trying to introduce a ballot measure to amend the state constitution to recognize fetuses as persons, which would ban abortion altogether in the state. Abortion is currently legal in Florida up to 15 weeks of pregnancy.
Debate between judges in Harrell case
There was also disagreement among the judges in Harrell’s case about what potential rights of the fetus deserve to be considered by the court.
In a partially dissenting opinion, Justice Monica Gordo, one of three judges named in the court filing to dismiss the case, argued that while she agreed with the majority opinion to dismiss Harrell’s claim to the lower court about inadequate prenatal care, he disagreed that the fetus had the right to argue habeas corpus, or unlawful imprisonment.
He called the latter argument «illogical» and «nothing more than an attempt by the mother to take advantage of her unborn child as a basis for her release from legal detention.»
«The government could no more be charged with illegally detaining the unborn child in this case than the mother could be guilty of kidnapping on interstate lines if she chose to visit her grandmother in Georgia when she was eight months pregnant,» Gordo wrote. . «The mother appears to us as a badly disguised Trojan horse.»
Michael O’Brien, who claims to be the child’s father, told NBC Miami that you are concerned about the health and well-being of your future child.
“This person is illegally imprisoned,” he said of the fetus.