UPDATE 1-Alabama prosecutor drops charges against woman who lost fetus after being shot

Alabama prosecutors on Wednesday dropped charges against a woman who lost her unborn baby in her fifth month of pregnancy when she was shot during an altercation in a case that has brought national attention to the state's legal protection for fetuses.

A Jefferson County grand jury indicted Marshae Jones, 28, for manslaughter on May 1, concluding she intentionally caused the death of her fetus in December by starting the fight with the woman who shot her but was not charged. But Lynneice Washington, the district attorney for the Bessemer division of the Jefferson County District Attorney's Office, decided to not to pursue any charges against Jones, her attorney, Mark White, said.

"It is the appropriate decision, both for our client and for the state of Alabama," White said in an emailed statement from his firm, White Arnold & Dowd.