What is Pregnancy Criminalization?
While pregnancy criminalization has increased since the end of Roe v. Wade and the proliferation of near-total and total abortion bans across the U.S., folks have been criminalized for their pregnancy outcomes for decades, even while Roe remained in place.
So, what is pregnancy criminalization, and how does it harm people who can get pregnant and their families?
In this resource, we break down pregnancy criminalization, its origins, and the insidious way in which it has been used to police pregnant people, particularly gender-oppressed people of color. We also detail how to protect yourself if you have a pregnancy outcome that results in something other than a live birth.
What does “pregnancy criminalization” mean?
Pregnancy criminalization generally refers to the use of the criminal legal system to punish or penalize individuals for actions related to their pregnancy, often framing actions as harmful to their fetus. Pregnancy criminalization is not limited to abortion; it can include charging pregnant folks with crimes like child endangerment or neglect, or even concealing the death of another person.
Our friends at Pregnancy Justice define pregnancy criminalization as “an instance in which someone is either arrested for reasons related to their pregnancy, or where the terms of their bail, sentencing, or probation are heightened because they became pregnant after being charged with an unrelated crime.”
At the heart of pregnancy criminalization is the concept of “fetal personhood,” which enshrines fetuses, embryos, and sometimes even fertilized eggs with the far-reaching rights of a living U.S. citizen.
What is the legal basis for pregnancy criminalization?
In 1986, barely a decade after Roe v. Wade, Minnesota passed a first-of-its kind “fetal homicide,” or “feticide” law that allowed the death of a fetus in a pregnant person to be prosecuted as homicide in some cases. While that law specifically excluded abortions from its sweeping mandate—it was meant to be a further legal protection for a pregnant person at risk of violence—it did signal that a fetus could be legally regarded as a person. Abortion opponents saw that and capitalized on it.
Feticide laws spread rapidly under the guise of protecting pregnant people from further violence. By Roe’s 40-year anniversary in 2013, 38 states had feticide laws on the books, and 23 of those applied to a pregnancy at any gestational age, a backdoor way of applying personhood to embryos and fetuses.
What are some examples of pregnancy criminalization?
From 1973 to 2023, more than 2,000 people across the U.S. faced prosecution and punishment for circumstances surrounding their pregnancies and pregnancy outcomes, despite the fact that legal abortion was a constitutionally-protected right for 49 of those 50 years.
In 2001, Regina McKnight, a Black South Carolina woman experiencing homelessness and struggling with drug addiction, became the first person in the United States to be arrested, prosecuted, and convicted for experiencing a stillbirth.
A decade later in 2011, Bei Bei Shuai, a Chinese immigrant in Indiana, attempted suicide while pregnant. Shuai didn’t die, but after an emergency C-section, her fetus did. Shuai was subsequently charged with murder and attempted feticide, and served 14 months in prison before enough public pressure prompted prosecutors to drop the murder charges and Shuai pled guilty to a misdemeanor. But Indiana wasn’t done. In 2015, Purvi Patel was convicted of feticide and sentenced to 20 years in prison after experiencing a stillbirth. Patel’s conviction was later vacated, but not after she was forced to spend more than a year in prison.
In 2015, Kenlissia Jones, a Black Georgian woman, was charged with murder under the state’s feticide law after allegedly taking medication abortion pills while in her second trimester, even though Georgia law prohibited the prosecution of abortion care at the time. In 2017, Latice Fisher, a Black Mississippi mother of three, gave birth to a stillborn baby. She was charged with second-degree murder after prosecutors searched Fisher’s cell phone data and found “medication abortion” in her browser’s search results. In both Jones’ and Fisher’s cases, the charges were dropped after a national outcry.
In the years since the Dobbs ruling ended the constitutional right to an abortion, the frequency of cases has only increased. In the first year after Dobbs, Pregnancy Justice found that at least 210 pregnant people faced criminal charges for conduct associated with pregnancy, abortion, pregnancy loss, or birth.
Recent cases show that the net of criminalization is growing wider. In March 2025, Selena Maria Chandler-Scott, a Georgia woman who had a miscarriage, was charged with concealing the death of another and abandonment of a dead body after she had a miscarriage and threw away her miscarried remains. Brittany Watts, a 33-year-old Ohio woman, was charged with “abuse of a corpse” after she miscarried in her home bathroom and then flushed her miscarried remains in the toilet. This is the culture of fear, policing, and criminalization that extends from abortion bans and any attempt to codify fetal personhood.
Where is pregnancy criminalization prevalent and who is most often targeted?
Policing and criminalization in the U.S. largely targets people of color, especially Black people, and it is no different in pregnancy criminalization. Black and low-income gender-oppressed people bear the brunt of criminalization for pregnancy outcomes. In the two decades following Roe, gender-oppressed people of color represented 75% of people criminalized for drug use while pregnant.
The danger of feticide and fetal personhood laws is how far-reaching they can be. While criminalization often targets folks of color first, the threat of fetal personhood goes far beyond abortion and even miscarriage. Fetal personhood threatens the use of In Vitro Fertilization (IVF), as evidenced by the Alabama Supreme Court’s 2024 ruling that frozen embryos are legally regarded as children.
Currently, 38 states have established criminal feticide by law, and 17 states have established fetal personhood. We’ve included some helpful graphics from Pregnancy Justice that detail which states have which laws on the books at this time:
How can I protect myself and my loved ones from pregnancy criminalization?
Understand your state’s laws regarding fetal personhood and feticide. While these laws are widespread, they don’t apply to every state. And if you do live in a state with a feticide law, remember that these laws are not meant to criminalize pregnancy outcomes other than a live birth. Our friends at Pregnancy Justice have a run-down of state laws in their latest report.
It’s important to remember that it is not currently a crime to have a miscarriage, stillbirth, or other kinds of pregnancy outcomes that don’t result in a live birth. If you attempt to self-manage an abortion and need to seek medical help, you may tell medical personnel that you are experiencing a miscarriage. You do not have to explain beyond that.
If you are concerned that you may be criminalized for your pregnancy outcome and need more information or possible legal representation, contact Pregnancy Justice. If you have been criminalized for your pregnancy outcome and need help with legal fees and/or bail money, reach out to the Repro Legal Defense Fund. If you believe you have experienced birth health care discrimination, contact Elephant Circle.