Illinois teen gets 40 years for murder of pregnant woman and preborn baby

An Illinois teen has been sentenced to 40 years in prison for the murder of 20-year-old Janiah Thomas and her preborn child in 2023.

KEY TAKEAWAYS:

• Mattarion Anderson, 17, was convicted in April of first-degree murder and “intentional homicide of an unborn child.”

• He shot Thomas, killing both her and her preborn child, and injured her four-year-old.

• Illinois law recognizes preborn children as homicide victims in tragic situations like this one — but those same children can be legally killed in the womb by abortion.

• Homicide remains one of the leading causes of death among pregnant women.

THE DETAILS:

In April, Anderson was found guilty of murdering Thomas, who was 26 weeks pregnant at the time of her death. According to WCIA News, “Decatur Police said in a sworn statement that Thomas’ boyfriend and brother went outside once they were aware of Anderson’s presence” — who reportedly came with his brother to the home in “retribution for an ongoing dispute” on March 8, 2023. “Shots were fired a short time later and the bullets went flying into the home. Thomas was shot as she tried to protect her 4-year-old daughter, who was shot in the eye.”

Though the little girl survived, she lost her eye.

During sentencing, Judge Thomas Griffith gave Anderson two 20-year sentences for the death of Thomas and her preborn child, set to run consecutively. He noted that the sentences would have been higher had Anderson been a legal adult at the time of the incident. Two other people were involved in the crime; one has been sentenced and one has a pretrial hearing on June 6, 2025.

BETWEEN THE LINES:

Anderson was convicted and sentenced for the death of Thomas’s preborn child, but that isn’t always a given — especially in pro-abortion states like Illinois. Other abortion-friendly states, like New York and Connecticut, do not recognize preborn children as homicide victims.

In Illinois, preborn children can legally be killed via abortion all the way up until birth — yet if someone besides an abortionist does the killing, it’s against the law. This logic-defying concession, in which the preborn child is a victim in one instance but not in another, is unreconcilable.

Homicide remains a leading cause of death for pregnant women, exceeding all the leading health-related causes of maternal mortality. According to research published by the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine in January 2025, between 2005 and 2022, of 20,421 maternal deaths, 1,407 were due to homicide.