Judge orders new trial for woman sentenced to 18 years in prison after stillbirth

A judge has ordered a new trial for an Alabama woman who was sentenced to 18 years in prison following a stillbirth that her attorneys argued was caused by an infection rather than drug use. Lee County Circuit Judge Jeffrey Tickal vacated Brooke Shoemaker’s 2020 conviction for chemical endangerment of a child resulting in death. Shoemaker is one of at least several dozen women who have been prosecuted following pregnancy loss and one of hundreds who have been prosecuted for pregnancy-related conduct, according to Pregnancy Justice, an advocacy organization helping with her appeal.