ATLANTA — After national news outlets decried Georgia’s abortion law’s role in the arrest of a Tifton woman who suffered a miscarriage, Tift County prosecutors announced Friday they have decided to drop the charges and will not move forward with the case.

Warrants obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution authorizing the arrest of Selena Chandler-Scott last month accused her of “concealing the death of her own miscarried fetus, a human being” and “unlawfully disposing of a dead body, her own miscarried fetus.”

Tift County District Attorney Patrick Warren said in an emailed news release that his office determined prosecuting the case “is not legally sustainable and not in the interest of justice.”

“This case is heartbreaking and emotionally difficult for everyone involved, but our decision must be grounded in law — not emotion or speculation,” he said.

Warren had previously questioned the charges and said he “could not locate any specific Georgia statute or case law that addresses an individual’s choice to dispose of a naturally miscarried, nonviable fetus.”

The arrest gained national attention and sparked outrage among abortion rights activists.

State Sen. Carden Summers, a Cordele Republican who represents Tift County, said he knew little information about the case of Chandler-Scott’s miscarriage and subsequent arrest.

“It’s just sad,” he said. “Sad for the woman, sad for the fetus and sad for everybody involved.”

In the news release from Warren’s office, he said the charge of “concealing the death of another” is “designed to prosecute individuals who deliberately hide the death of another person to mislead authorities about the manner of death.”

Chandler-Scott told law enforcement she did not know what to do with the remains, according to the DA’s office.

Because the fetus was miscarried and born stillborn at 19 weeks, her disposing of the fetus “did not involve any criminal act,” the news release says.

Abortion rights advocates say the arrest is the direct result of Georgia’s 2019 abortion law, which grants “personhood” status to an embryo or fetus once fetal cardiac activity can be detected.

“Blame, 100%, should be on the authors of the law,” said Jaylen Black, spokesperson with Planned Parenthood Southeast. “Since 2019, and well beyond that, doctors, other providers (and) health care professionals — who are the ones who care for patients — have long argued when you used this ‘personhood’ language, in time, it will have effects, either intended or that they didn’t intend, that start negatively impacting people.”

Enacted in 2022, Georgia’s law bans most abortions once a medical professional can detect fetal cardiac activity, which is typically around six weeks of pregnancy and before many know they are pregnant. Anti-abortion advocates across the country for years have pushed for “personhood,” which grants rights to an embryo or fetus.

Chandler-Scott, 25, was found early March 20 near her apartment building, bleeding and unconscious, according to a news release from police. Emergency responders determined she had suffered a miscarriage. A subsequent autopsy determined the fetus was 19 weeks and stillborn, Joshua Hendrix with the Tift County Coroner’s office told the Journal-Constitution.

Police said they spoke with a witness at the apartment complex who told them Chandler-Scott had “placed the fetus in a bag and placed that bag in a dumpster outside,” according to a press release.

Chandler-Scott was taken to a hospital for treatment.

The next day she was charged on two felony counts: throwing away or abandonment of a dead body and concealment of a dead body, according to arrest warrants.

The Police Department did not fulfill the Journal-Constitution's request for the police report prior to press time.

Warren, the district attorney, said in the news release that his office advised law enforcement to “wait for the full medical findings and completed witness statements before moving forward.”

“While law enforcement acted in good faith and responded to a very difficult and emotional situation, it’s now clear that no criminal law was violated,” Warren said.

A spokesperson for the Tift County Sheriff’s Office said Chandler-Scott was booked into the county jail and has since been released on bond. Chandler-Scott did not respond to requests for comment.

Mike Griffin, a lobbyist with Georgia Baptist Mission Board who worked in support of the state’s abortion law, said the law should not have played a part in Chandler-Scott’s arrest.

“Because it was stillborn in a miscarriage, I don’t see how she could be violating that personhood clause,” Griffin said. “There are probably other laws related to how to report a baby that’s come out due to a miscarriage, but you shouldn’t apply criminal responses if it’s a miscarriage.”

On Wednesday, state Sen. Sally Harrell, an Atlanta Democrat, said Chandler-Scott’s miscarriage was criminalized because of the state’s abortion law and urged her Republican colleagues to remove the personhood language.

“This case demonstrates the idiocy of fetal personhood,” she said. “This is terrifying for women of reproductive age in Georgia. ... It subjects women to either publication of their most private moments or the fearful hiding and shaming of their natural body processes. It is insanity and just plain wrong.”

Warren called the case “disturbing and tragic” and said his decision to dismiss the charges is based solely on the facts of the case and Georgia law.

“I do not condone the way the remains were handled, and I understand that her actions were distressing to many. But my duty is not to punish what feels wrong — it is to uphold the law with fairness and integrity.”

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