PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "This isn’t the first time cops have used these tests to target women over pregnancies that happened decades ago: In December 2024, a Florida woman’s DNA test led to her grandmother being charged with murder, involuntary manslaughter, and concealing the death of an individual—for the death of an ‘infant’ 20 years earlier. And an Ohio mother and grandmother was arrested in 2019 after cops used DNA testing to tie her to “a baby that was left” in the woods 26 years before."
————————————————
PASSAGE TWO OF THE DAY: "Often enough, these cases center on women who experienced miscarriage, stillbirth, or other pregnancy-related medical emergencies—and in the midst of extreme trauma, didn’t know how to move forward. As Pregnancy Justice’s Karen Thompson tells us: “We approach the police narrative of women killing their newborns with a high level of skepticism because we’ve seen the harm it can do, and we have seen how often police get it wrong. We’ve represented women and tracked dozens of cases across the country where they were prosecuted—often as grandmothers and often decades after suffering a devastating stillbirth—because DNA tests linked them to fetal remains and junk forensic science was then used to claim ‘proof’ that a baby was born alive.”
——————————————————
PASSAGE THREE OF THE DAY: "Thompson continued, “The reality is that pregnancies sometimes have tragic endings, and if that is the case here, criminalization is the wrong response.” Whatever information does or doesn’t come to light about this latest case, we simply can’t overstate the cruelty of arresting someone over a tragedy 35 years later—and the importance of not rushing to judgments based on the word of police. As advancements continue to be made in forensic technology and DNA testing, it’s beyond disturbing to watch them co-opted by the state to surveil and criminalize women. And it’s safe to say that most people taking an AncestryDNA or 23andMe test probably don’t realize they could be helping to arrest their grandmas or distant relatives."
------------------------------------------
COMMENTARY: "How Your At-Home DNA Test Could Send Women to Jail," by Kylie Cheug and Jessica Valenti, published by Abortion, Every Day, on January 9, 2026. (
SUB-HEADING: "Virginia Woman Arrested Over Her 1991 Pregnancy."
GIST: "A 55-year-old woman in Fairfax, Virginia, was arrested on Wednesday in connection to the death of an ‘infant’ found in a dumpster in Kentucky… in 1991. That’s right, thirty-five years ago.
As is often the case with arrests like these, the only information we have comes from law enforcement—and we all know better than to take their word for anything. (Especially in cases involving women accused of ‘abandoning’ their ‘infants.’)
The Kentucky State Police—who seem to be especially excited about making pregnancy-related arrests these days—claim that ‘Baby Jane Doe’ was born alive and healthy, and was abandoned in a dumpster.
Here’s the really chilling part: police say they found the Virginia woman thanks to “new technologies” and “advancements in forensic science.” Translation? They identified her using an AncestryDNA test—the kind people take to learn about their heritage, or find distant cousins.
This isn’t the first time cops have used these tests to target women over pregnancies that happened decades ago: In December 2024, a Florida woman’s DNA test led to her grandmother being charged with murder, involuntary manslaughter, and concealing the death of an individual—for the death of an ‘infant’ 20 years earlier. And an Ohio mother and grandmother was arrested in 2019 after cops used DNA testing to tie her to “a baby that was left” in the woods 26 years before.
Often enough, these cases center on women who experienced miscarriage, stillbirth, or other pregnancy-related medical emergencies—and in the midst of extreme trauma, didn’t know how to move forward. As Pregnancy Justice’s Karen Thompson tells us:
“We approach the police narrative of women killing their newborns with a high level of skepticism because we’ve seen the harm it can do, and we have seen how often police get it wrong. We’ve represented women and tracked dozens of cases across the country where they were prosecuted—often as grandmothers and often decades after suffering a devastating stillbirth—because DNA tests linked them to fetal remains and junk forensic science was then used to claim ‘proof’ that a baby was born alive.”
Thompson continued, “The reality is that pregnancies sometimes have tragic endings, and if that is the case here, criminalization is the wrong response.”
Whatever information does or doesn’t come to light about this latest case, we simply can’t overstate the cruelty of arresting someone over a tragedy 35 years later—and the importance of not rushing to judgments based on the word of police.
As advancements continue to be made in forensic technology and DNA testing, it’s beyond disturbing to watch them co-opted by the state to surveil and criminalize women. And it’s safe to say that most people taking an AncestryDNA or 23andMe test probably don’t realize they could be helping to arrest their grandmas or distant relatives."
The entire commentary can be read at:
https://jessica.substack.com/p/how-your-at-home-dna-test-could-send
PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue/resource. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments. The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at: http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmith. Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at: http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2011/05/charles-smith-blog-award-nominations.html Please send any comments or information on other cases and issues of interest to the readers of this blog to: hlevy15@gmail.com. Harold Levy: Publisher: The Charles Smith Blog.
SEE BREAKDOWN OF SOME OF THE ON-GOING INTERNATIONAL CASES (OUTSIDE OF THE CONTINENTAL USA) THAT I AM FOLLOWING ON THIS BLOG, AT THE LINK BELOW: HL:
https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/120008354894645705/4704913685758792985
———————————————————————————————
FINAL WORD: (Applicable to all of our wrongful conviction cases): "Whenever there is a wrongful conviction, it exposes errors in our criminal legal system, and we hope that this case — and lessons from it — can prevent future injustices."
Lawyer Radha Natarajan:
Executive Director: New England Innocence Project;
—————————————————————————————————
FINAL, FINAL WORD: "Since its inception, the Innocence Project has pushed the criminal legal system to confront and correct the laws and policies that cause and contribute to wrongful convictions. They never shied away from the hard cases — the ones involving eyewitness identifications, confessions, and bite marks. Instead, in the course of presenting scientific evidence of innocence, they've exposed the unreliability of evidence that was, for centuries, deemed untouchable." So true!
Christina Swarns: Executive Director: The Innocence Project;
-------------------------------------------------------------------
