SMYAL- Social Justice Advocates for LGBTQ Community

Nobody should fear arrest or government control
because of pregnancy or any pregnancy outcome.

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Pregnancy Justice

Nobody should fear arrest or government control
because of pregnancy or any pregnancy outcome.

DONATE

It’s 2025, and women are still not safe in their bodies.

In an era where women’s right to bodily autonomy and access to abortion have been severely restricted, and eliminated in many states, women face criminal prosecution for pregnancy loss–even with wanted pregnancies.

The criminalization of pregnancy strips women of legal and medical rights, giving rise to the policing of women’s bodies in the most intimate circumstances.

Across the nation, pregnant women are subjected to forced, unwanted medical testing and procedures, non-consensual testing of their newborn babies and the sharing of their confidential test results with law enforcement—circumstances no other group faces.

Increasingly, pregnant people are surveilled, arrested, and incarcerated for behavior that is legal for other adults. Being pregnant is becoming a growing threat to civil and human rights.

Our 2025 grantee partner, Pregnancy Justice, is fighting back.

Prosecutorial abuse runs rampant in the sphere of pregnancy criminalization. Pregnant women have become a subclass of citizens that some have decided should not have the same rights as other citizens.  There has been much coverage of efforts to criminalize women crossing state lines to get an abortion, despite interstate travel for medical care being commonplace and legal.  But even outside of the abortion context, and in cases where the pregnancy is wanted, pregnant people face criminal prosecutions, removal of their children, and other dire consequences.  

  • A pregnant Alabama woman took a legally prescribed medication to treat her debilitating arthritis and degenerative disc disease and was charged with felony prescription fraud. Read.

  • A pregnant Alabama woman was shot in the abdomen five times during an argument with a woman in a parking lot.  The victim lost her pregnancy and was indicted for manslaughter. The shooter was not charged. Read.

  • An Ohio woman who repeatedly sought medical help during a miscarriage was charged with felony abuse of a corpse after miscarrying at home in the toilet. Read.

  • A California woman with a drug addiction was charged with murder after her pregnancy ended in a stillbirth and she tested positive for meth.  She did not consent to drug testing.  She spent 16 months in jail before her case was dismissed.  Another woman in the same jurisdiction spent four years in jail before charges were dismissed. Read.

  • An Iowa woman was investigated for attempted feticide after accidentally falling down the stairs. Read.

Even if charges are ultimately dropped, pregnant women endure the stress and embarrassment of investigation, questioning, arrest, long-term incarceration, and the cascading effects of losing their children, their jobs, and even their homes. 

The criminalization of pregnancy strips women of legal and medical rights, giving rise to the policing of women’s bodies in the most intimate circumstances.

Across the nation, pregnant women are subjected to forced, unwanted medical testing and procedures, non-consensual testing of their newborn babies and the sharing of their confidential test results with law enforcement—circumstances no other group faces.

Increasingly, pregnant people are surveilled, arrested, and incarcerated for behavior that is legal for other adults. Being pregnant is becoming a growing threat to civil and human rights.

Our 2025 grantee partner, Pregnancy Justice, is fighting back.

Prosecutorial abuse runs rampant in the sphere of pregnancy criminalization. Pregnant women have become a subclass of citizens that some have decided should not have the same rights as other citizens.  There has been much coverage of efforts to criminalize women crossing state lines to get an abortion, despite interstate travel for medical care being commonplace and legal.  But even outside of the abortion context, and in cases where the pregnancy is wanted, pregnant people face criminal prosecutions, removal of their children, and other dire consequences.  

  • A pregnant Alabama woman took a legally prescribed medication to treat her debilitating arthritis and degenerative disc disease and was charged with felony prescription fraud. Read.

  • A pregnant Alabama woman was shot in the abdomen five times during an argument with a woman in a parking lot.  The victim lost her pregnancy and was indicted for manslaughter. The shooter was not charged. Read.

  • An Ohio woman who repeatedly sought medical help during a miscarriage was charged with felony abuse of a corpse after miscarrying at home in the toilet. Read.

  • A California woman with a drug addiction was charged with murder after her pregnancy ended in a stillbirth and she tested positive for meth.  She did not consent to drug testing.  She spent 16 months in jail before her case was dismissed.  Another woman in the same jurisdiction spent four years in jail before charges were dismissed. Read.

  • An Iowa woman was investigated for attempted feticide after accidentally falling down the stairs. Read.

Even if charges are ultimately dropped, pregnant women endure the stress and embarrassment of investigation, questioning, arrest, long-term incarceration, and the cascading effects of losing their children, their jobs, and even their homes. 

It’s 2025, and women are still not safe in their bodies.

In an era where women’s right to bodily autonomy and access to abortion have been severely restricted, and eliminated in many states, women face criminal prosecution for pregnancy loss–even with wanted pregnancies.

Pregnancy Justice: A Strong Mission

Pregnancy Justice, our 2025 Grantee Partner, defends the civil and human rights of pregnant people.

Since its founding over 20 years ago, Pregnancy Justice has worked across disciplines, including reproductive rights and justice, public health, drug policy, criminal justice reform, racial justice, and prosecutorial accountability, among others, to advance pregnant people’s bodily autonomy and rights.

Pregnancy Justice has a four-pronged approach to its work:

  • Providing free criminal legal defense and pursuing affirmative litigation to defend and advance pregnant people’s rights. Pregnancy Justice represents clients who are threatened with state action, charged, or are fighting the constitutionality of a law or their treatment.

  • Working with policymakers and allies, Pregnancy Justice fights unjust laws that fuel pregnancy-related prosecutions and fights for legislation that centers pregnant people.

  • Researching and documenting pregnancy-related prosecutions and their impact, Pregnancy Justice publishes groundbreaking analysis on judicial decisions, policies, and laws–including the threats to pregnant people’s rights by providing legal rights to embryos and fetuses.

  • Equipping partners with training, research, analysis, and strategic counsel, Pregnancy Justice works collaboratively to shift the narrative on how the media, society, and lawmakers view pregnant people’s rights.

“Pregnant people are, simply by virtue of being pregnant, vulnerable to criminal charges: child abuse or endangerment if they are accused of exposing their fetus to some perceived risk of harm; or murder, feticide, or manslaughter if they experience a pregnancy loss. Now without Roe, we can expect criminalization of pregnancy to increase.”

—Lourdes A. Rivera
President, Pregnancy Justice

Pregnancy as a Crime: Preliminary Report on the First Year After Dobbs is part of a three-year study of pregnancy criminalization in the wake of the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision. Pregnancy Justice is working in partnership with researchers from the University of Tennessee, the University of South Carolina, the University of Texas Austin, and the University of Alabama. 

It’s time to fight for a world that treats all pregnant people with dignity and humanity.

Pregnancy Justice has defended clients against pregnancy-related criminal charges for decades. Help us support their fight against pregnancy criminalization. 100% of your contribution to JusticeAid will support Pregnancy Justice’s work.