In push for fetal personhood, pregnant women are being jailed for miscarrying

A disturbing new report from Pregnancy Justice reveals that more than 200 pregnant women have been prosecuted since the overturning of Roe, marking the highest number of cases recorded in a single year since 1973. These prosecutions aren’t limited to abortion but also involve behaviors alleged to have endangered a pregnancy. Prosecutors are increasingly relying on homicide and child endangerment laws rather than abortion bans. This surge in pregnancy-related criminalization stems from the radical legal doctrine of fetal personhood, a central goal of the anti-abortion movement. Several states have already granted legal rights to fetuses and embryos, as anti-abortion advocates play the long game, aiming for national recognition of fetal personhood—and the eventual outlawing of abortion altogether. “The idea is to say, [that] the Supreme Court isn’t ready to say that a fetus has constitutional rights– but what we’re going to do is build the case prosecution by prostitution, law by law,” explains Mary Ziegler, a law professor and historian at UC Davis Law School.”