Women

 Institute for Public Accuracy -  A new book, The Pregnancy Police, details how pregnant Americans have faced arrest and prosecution for supposed crimes against fertilized eggs, embryos, and fetuses since long before the overturning of Roe v. Wade.  Author Grace Howard examined over 1,000 arrests made since 1973 that were due to pregnancy outcomes. She argues that legal statutes have been used to surveil and punish people. Howard spoke to the Institute for Public Accuracy about the history and current stakes of this issue. 

“It was challenging to get access to data” tracking these arrests, Howard said. “That’s an ongoing issue. The arrests are being made under so many different charges––including, very often, charges that say nothing about pregnancy or fetuses. You can’t just do a Freedom of Information Act request for all of the pregnancy charges. It’s a real hodgepodge: reporters sharing data and cases, legal nonprofits, a few lawyers. In a few cases, prosecutors are proud and feel they are policy innovators, and wanted to share their cases with me.” 

The charges are varied and state-specific. “If you’re in Alabama and you’re a pregnant person who tests positive for drugs, you’re likely going to be charged with ‘chemical endangerment of a minor.’ In South Carolina, the charge is ‘unlawful neglect of a minor.’ In Tennessee, which had only two years of official criminalization, they used ‘fetal assault.’ Those are the three biggest charges. But it could also be ‘exposure to drugs through the umbilical cord,’ homicide, manslaughter.