US prosecutors keep charging women with ‘pregnancy-related crimes’

In the two years after Roe v Wade was overturned, hundreds were charged amid growing acceptance of ‘fetal personhood’

Arwa Mahdawi
Sat 4 Oct 2025

The pregnancy police are racking up arrests

Every 74 seconds, someone in the US is sexually assaulted. And every nine minutes that ‘someone’ is a child, according to statistics collated by the anti-sexual violence non-profit Rainn.

Instead of sending alleged sex offenders to court, the Trump administration seems more interested in putting them in positions of power. Less than 4% of reported rapes, sexual assaults and child sexual abuse allegations in certain cities across the country ever lead to a sex crime conviction, an NBC News investigation from earlier this year found. To reiterate: that’s reported assaults. By some counts, nearly 80% of rapes and sexual assaults go unreported.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/oct/04/week-in-patriarchy-pregnancy-crimes

04.10.2025

Commentary

Amnesty International

prosecuting women for miscarriage

prosecuting women for pregnancy

Will El Salvador’s Total Abortion Ban Be a Model for the U.S.? Maria Hinojosa Investigates

October 02, 2025
Video: 59 minutes

A new investigation by Pulitzer-Prize winning journalist Maria Hinojosa looks at reproductive rights in El Salvador, which has one of the world’s most restrictive anti-abortion laws and has imprisoned women who suffered obstetric emergencies like miscarriages or stillbirths.

While exact numbers are difficult to ascertain, one woman who spent time in prison in El Salvador for a miscarriage estimated “that 90% of the women who are in prison in El Salvador are in prison for this,” says Hinojosa.

Hinojosa also cautions that a version of El Salvador’s law could make its way to the United States as states pass more abortion bans following the end of Roe v. Wade.

Continued: https://www.democracynow.org/2025/10/2/maria_hinojosa

02.10.2025

Film, Art, Books

Videos/Images

anti-choice misogyny

jailing women for abortion

jailing women for miscarriage

El Salvador – From Pregnancy to Murder Charge: Living Under a Total Abortion Ban

By Monica Morales-Garcia and Maria Hinojosa
Sep 26, 2025

On a hot San Salvador day, Teodora Vázquez called 911 for an ambulance. She was nine months pregnant, alone at work, and in labor. After multiple phone calls for help, no one arrived. With no medical care, she gave birth, fell unconscious, and began hemorrhaging in a bathroom stall. Shortly after, the police came. To her surprise, they weren’t there to help her, but placed her under arrest for what they decided was the abortion and murder of her newborn. Teodora would then be convicted of homicide and sentenced to 30 years in prison.

Since 1997, El Salvador has had a no-exceptions ban on abortion. This means that there are no exceptions for women seeking an abortion after rape, incest, or when their life is in danger. Termination of pregnancy is never allowed; instead, it’s criminalized. Medical professionals can be incarcerated for up to 12 years for assisting or performing an abortion, and pregnant women have been sentenced to up to 50 years in prison for what the government has defined as an abortion and homicide.

Continued: https://www.latinousa.org/2025/09/26/pregnancymurdercharge/

26.09.2025