Nearly 1,400 People Were Arrested For How They Acted During Pregnancy Before Roe Fell

Women have long been at risk of being arrested for their behavior while pregnant ― and advocates worry that state laws passed since the fall of Roe v. Wade will make such punishments more common.

A new report from Pregnancy Justice, a legal advocacy organization for pregnant people, reveals that hundreds of pregnant Americans were criminalized for their pregnancy outcomes, including miscarriage, even when Roe was in effect. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists defines the criminalization of pregnancy as penalizing people for actions that could be seen as harmful to their fetuses, even if those behaviors wouldn’t otherwise be considered criminal.

Nearly 1,400 criminal arrests took place between 2006 and June 2022, according to Pregnancy Justice’s report, for things like using illicit substances or drinking alcohol while pregnant. Other cases include pregnant women being criminalized for not wearing a seatbelt, refusing a C-section, not getting prenatal care while pregnant and having HIV.

“We should all be incredibly concerned about the fact that pregnant people are getting arrested, prosecuted, separated from their children and incarcerated for actions that should not be illegal,” Lourdes Rivera, the president of Pregnancy Justice, said during a press call on Tuesday.

Many of the stories included in Pregnancy Justice’s report made national headlines. In 2014, for example, a Tennessee woman who was nine months pregnant was arrested for driving without a seatbelt. She had engaged “in conduct which placed her baby in imminent danger or death or serious bodily injury,” according to the warrant for her arrest.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/nearly-1400-people-arrested-during-pregnancy-before-roe-fell_n_650a04ebe4b0d32444257fc0

I don't know what happened to Women's Rights and Issues, so I put this under Health