Women

Time - At least 210 pregnant people faced criminal charges for “conduct associated” with pregnancy in the first year after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade—the highest number documented in a single year, according to a new report by Pregnancy Justice, a nonprofit dedicated to protecting pregnant people’s rights.

The report, released on Tuesday, covered prosecutions initiated from June 24, 2022 to June 23, 2023, but researchers plan to document all charges of pregnancy criminalization in the country in the years since the decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization in June 2022. The report defines pregnancy criminalization as occurring “when the state wields a criminal law to render acts associated with a pregnancy, pregnancy loss, birth, and/or associated healthcare the subject of criminal prosecution.” Pregnancy criminalization can include abortion criminalization, but is not limited to it. The majority of the pregnancy-related charges documented in the report, for instance, alleged substance use during pregnancy.