Marshae Jones was five months pregnant when she was shot in the stomach outside of a Birmingham-area Dollar General last December, losing her child.

Wednesday, a grand jury in Alabama indicted her on a charge of manslaughter in the unborn baby girl's death, while the charge against the woman accused of pulling the trigger was dismissed, according to AL.com.

According to police, Jones, 27, was shot after they said she started a fight with 23-year-old Ebony Jemison. Pleasant Grove police Lt. Danny Reid said investigators found Jones to be the aggressor.

"The investigation showed that the only true victim in this was the unborn baby,'' Reid told AL.com in December. "It was the mother of the child who initiated and continued the fight which resulted in the death of her own unborn baby."

Jones, Reid said, started the fight with Jemison over the unborn child's father on Dec. 4. She pressed the fight and Jemison acted in self-defense, leading to the child's death.

"She had no choice in being brought unnecessarily into a fight where she was relying on her mother for protection," Reid said. He added, the fetus was still "dependent on its mother to try to keep it from harm, and she shouldn't seek out unnecessary physical altercations."

Jemison was initially charged with manslaughter, but a grand jury failed to indict her.

The charge has garnered the attention of advocacy groups in Alabama, where a recently passed abortion law banning most of the procedures and making doctors who perform then culpable has called into question the state's support of women's rights.

"The state of Alabama has proven yet again that the moment a person becomes pregnant, their sole responsibility is to produce a live, healthy baby and that it considers any action a pregnant person takes that might impede in that live birth to be a criminal act,'' Amanda Reyes, executive director of the pro-rights advocacy group the Yellowhammer Fund, said in a statement released Wednesday night.

"Today, Marshae Jones is being charged with manslaughter for being pregnant and getting shot while engaging in an altercation with a person who had a gun. Tomorrow, it will be another black woman, maybe for having a drink while pregnant. And after that, another, for not obtaining adequate prenatal care."

Jones was taken into custody Wednesday night, AL.com reported. She is being held in Jefferson County jail on $50,000 bail.

Contact Daniel Figueroa IV at dfigueroa@tampabay.com. Follow @danuscripts.