A pregnant Florida woman is trying to get released from jail on the grounds that her unborn child is innocent, per a petition for writ of habeas corpus filed last week.
“Time is of the essence,” said the petition. “Delay can mean serious harm or death to UNBORN CHILD.”
According to the document, 24-year-old Natalia Harrell was approximately six weeks pregnant when she fatally shot 28-year-old Gladys Yvette Borcela inside an Uber vehicle in Miami, Fla., on July 23 last year. It said the incident was recorded on a security camera inside the vehicle.
Before the shooting, Borcela allegedly assaulted Harrell and the pregnant woman was “in fear for her life,” per the filing. After the incident, Harrell was arrested and charged with Second-Degree Murder, a “first-degree felony punishable by up to the maximum punishment of life in prison,” as well as a $10,000 fine.
“At the time the ‘no bond’ warrant was issued, Ms. Harrell did not have the benefit of competent counsel to advocate her position and the UNBORN CHILD with regard to the reasonableness of the bond,” the filing said.
Since Harrell has been incarcerated at Miami-Dade County Corrections and Rehabilitation, she has not been transported to the OB-GYN physician at Jackson Hospital for prenatal care, her legal representation alleges. Court documents said her last visit with the attending OB-GYN physician was in October. Additionally, the petition alleges that Harrell has also not been provided with prescribed vitamins and nutritional drinks. As of the filing, Harrell was approximately eight months pregnant.
In September, Audacy reported on a lawsuit regarding another incarcerated pregnant woman Jazmin Valentine. It alleged that Valentine gave birth to a daughter “alone, with no medical care or assistance of any kind, on the filthy, cold, hard floor of a cement and steel jail cell at the Washington County Jail.”
According to the petition, Harrell’s fetus “has eyes, arms, and hopefully developed all aspects of the human body and body functions,” and the “UNBORN CHILD is a person within the meaning of the Article 1 section 9 of the Florida Constitution and the Fifth, Sixth, Eighth, and Fourteenth Amendments of the United States Constitution,” it added that the “UNBORN CHILD’s constitutionally protected due process rights have been clearly violated by Respondents.”
Apart from the alleged lack of access to medical care and resources, the petition alleges that Harrell is housed with “violent criminals.”
“Miami-Dade County Corrections and Rehabilitation partners with Jackson Health System to provide healthcare to the inmates in our custody, and we are committed to ensuring all inmates receive professional, timely medical care and all appropriate treatment,” the Miami-Dade County Corrections and Rehabilitation Department said in a statement sent to Law&Crime regarding the case. “We are conducting a full review of the health services offered and received to ensure that all pre-natal care being provided in our custody is appropriate.”
According to The Guardian, Harrell’s attorney William M. Norris’ “rhetoric has echoed that of the ‘fetal personhood’ movement, which seeks to grant constitutional legal protection to fetuses and embryos,” and is tied to the anti-abortion movement.
“If you recognize fetal personhood, this is a Pandora’s box,” said Mary Ziegler, a law professor and abortion law expert, per The Guardian. Last year, Ziegler joined Audacy’s “The Homestretch” podcast to discuss abortion and elections in the U.S.
“It has the potential to establish that abortion is always illegal and potentially to expose women to punishment or make it a violation of the Florida constitution to perform an abortion,” she said of the Harrell case. “It would mean that you can’t imprison people who are pregnant, no matter what crime.”
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