California mother’s conviction for fetal death overturned

HANFORD, Calif. (AP) — A California court has overturned the conviction and 11-year prison sentence of a woman for causing the death of her unborn child through drug use. A Kings County judge on Wednesday reversed the conviction of Adora Perez, who had a stillbirth in 2017 in Hanford after using methamphetamine. She pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter to avoid a fetal murder charge. But the judge said California’s manslaughter law doesn’t apply to the unborn. Perez will still face the original charge of fetal murder at an April hearing. However, California Attorney General Rob Bonta has said that law was intended to criminalize violence done to pregnant women that caused fetal death — not actions by the women themselves.