What: The Washington Post has the horrific story of a woman who was pregnant with her third child and wanted an abortion but had no car to get herself hours away to a clinic. She took cinnamon pills to miscarry the baby (there is no evidence cinnamon causes miscarriages), and ultimately did have a miscarriage. It was prosecuted as a crime and she went to jail until a high-powered attorney intervened on her behalf. This is a story that captures the moral challenges and nuance that arise when you mix the law and pregnancy.

Key line: “In rare and often little-noticed cases, authorities have drawn on other laws to charge women accused of trying to end their pregnancies. Some prosecutors in both red and blue states have used sweeping statutes entirely unrelated to abortion — like child abuse, improper disposal of remains or murder — while others have relied on criminal laws written to protect a fetus. In Nevada, Frazier would eventually be charged with manslaughter under a unique 1911 law that supplements the state’s abortion restrictions, titled ‘taking drugs to terminate pregnancy.’”

Source: Washington Post // https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/interactive/2024/abortion-law-nevada-arrest-miscarriage/