Part 4: Criminalizing Pregnant People

Farah Diaz-Tello, a reproductive justice lawyer, describes the legal landscape of SMA and the history of criminalizing pregnant people in the US. This episode offers an origin story for the criminalization of abortion, and an overview of some of the legal risks that arise within it. Farah invites us into the thicket of legal restrictions on self-managed abortion, explaining how states and prosecutors have gotten creative in punishing pregnant people for ending their pregnancies on their own terms.

• Read the full transcript (english/español) [pdf]

• Carol Downer’s self help work

• Our Bodies Ourselves

• SIA Legal Team, now If/When/How

• If/When/How

• National Advocates for Pregnant Women

• Southwest Women's Law Center

• Legal Voice

• Gender Justice out of Minnesota

• Center on Reproductive Rights and Justice

• If/When/How’s Repro Legal Helpline

• Electronic Frontier Foundation's surveillance self-defense toolkit

• If/When/How: Roe’s Unfinished Promise

• If/When/How: Regulation of Pregnancy Issue Brief

• Farah Diaz-Tello: “The Law Protected Marshae Jones; Her Prosecutor Didn’t.”

• Molly Redden: “Jailed for ending a pregnancy: how prosecutors get inventive on abortion”. — This article provides an overview of the cases Farah mentions.

• Molly Osberg: “'Every Pregnancy Is a Risk of Harm': How Criminalizing Miscarriage Could Play Out.” — Article describes Kenlissia Jones’ case, among others.

• Miriam Zoila Pérez: “Purvi Patel Released From Prison After Feticide Conviction Overturned.”

• Caroline Burke: Massachusetts' NASTY Women Act Aims To Protect Abortion Access In The State No Matter What.

• Compilation of words and ideas