What: Over 200 women faced criminal charges for charges associated with pregnancy between June 2022 and 2023, the most cases seen by Pregnancy Justice in decades of tracking.
Why it matters: “’Dobbs certainly has unleashed a proliferation of old and new abortion laws, which are fundamentally criminal laws,’ Lourdes A. Rivera, president of Pregnancy Justice, said at a media briefing on Tuesday. While these laws have had serious impacts on reproductive health, they haven’t led to direct prosecution of pregnant women very often, she said. ‘However, if we focus only on abortion laws, we miss a crucial part of the picture, and the fact that pregnant individuals are being criminalized for allegedly endangering their own pregnancies, for pregnancy loss, and in some cases for conduct related to abortion. Prosecutors don’t need to rely on specific criminal abortion laws to prosecute pregnant women.’”
Source: CNN (https://www.cnn.com/2024/09/24/health/criminal-charges-during-pregnancy-increase/)