Americans Oppose Criminalizing Abortion. Too Many Policymakers Aren’t Listening.

Most Americans reject using the criminal justice system to police abortion care.

Oct 3, 2025
by Lucrecia Mena-Meléndez and Kristen N. Jozkowski

Since the Supreme Court ruled in Dobbs v. Jackson and overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, more than half of U.S. states have passed laws that dramatically restrict and criminalize abortion. These laws assign criminal penalties—including fines and prison time—not only to healthcare providers who provide abortions or write prescriptions for abortion pills, but in some cases, also to people who assist abortion seekers. Yet, a growing body of research suggests these punitive measures do not reflect the views of most Americans.

Our team on the Abortion Attitudes Project has been studying public opinion about abortion for approximately eight years, including whether people believe those involved in abortions—pregnant people, healthcare providers and people helping abortion seekers—should be punished if abortion is made illegal. Across various national surveys we conducted before and after Dobbs, we have consistently found that most people do not endorse harsh penalties for pregnant people or healthcare providers.

Continued: https://msmagazine.com/2025/10/03/abortion-law-ban-police-criminal-jail-arrest/

03.10.2025

Research

Abortion Attitudes Project

anti-choice misogyny

Kristen N. Jozkowski

Lucrecia Mena-Meléndez

prosecuting providers for abortion

prosecuting women for abortion

punishing women for abortion

Hundreds of US women charged with pregnancy-related crimes since fall of Roe

Study finds prosecutors targeting low-income women mainly in US south – and figure likely to be an undercount

Carter Sherman
Tue 30 Sep 2025

In the first two years after the US supreme court overturned Roe v Wade, prosecutors in 16 states charged more than 400 people with pregnancy-related crimes, new research released on Tuesday found.

Of the 412 cases tracked by Pregnancy Justice, the vast majority took place in the US south, targeted low-income women and involved allegations that women broke laws against child abuse, endangerment or neglect, according to the research, which was compiled by the reproductive justice group. About 300 prosecutions took place in Alabama and Oklahoma. In 16 cases, law enforcement charged women with homicide.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/sep/30/pregnancy-us-women-crimes-study

30.09.2025

prosecuting women for abortion

prosecuting women for miscarriage

prosecuting women for pregnancy

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

Interviews/Podcasts

30-year jail sentence for stillbirth

jailing women for abortion

Maria Hinojosa

Monica Morales-Garcia

prosecuting women for abortion

Activists call for abortion law reform ahead of Valletta rally

Activists gathered outside Mater Dei with a banner which read 'I came for care and ended up in court'

September 20, 2025
Times of Malta

A group of activists gathered outside Mater Dei Hospital on Saturday morning to highlight the injustice of the health and legal system after a woman who reported stomach cramps to health authorities was later charged in court for carrying out an abortion.

Holding a banner reading 'Ġejt għall-għajnuna u spiċċajt il-Qorti' (I came for care and ended up in court), the demonstration was organised by the Voice For Choice coalition ahead of the Abortion Rights March Rally, taking place on September 27 in Valletta.

Continued: https://timesofmalta.com/article/activists-call-abortion-law-reform-ahead-valletta-rally.1116528

20.09.2025

News

Abortion Rights March Rally

Mater Dei hospital

pro-choice rally

prosecuting women for abortion

Eleven domestic workers arrested over illegal abortions in Hong Kong

Aug 8, 2025
Martin Yip and Flora Drury, BBC News, Hong Kong and London

Eleven domestic workers have been arrested in Hong Kong on suspicion of "child destruction" and illegal abortions, police have said.

The women, in their 30s and 40s, were rounded up after one was found at her employer's home with a dead foetus, later confirmed to be at least 28 weeks old.

Police also found drugs they suspected were abortion pills - which eventually led them to the 10 other women.

Continued: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cj9w3k4ymego

08.08.2025

News

Lam Ho-yin

prosecuting women for abortion

Asia

Hong Kong

Law

Malta – A doctor’s shocking necessity to ask patients to lie about their abortion

Pro-choice doctors urge women to lie after an abortion to avoid legal complications given that abortion is illegal and punishable by a prison sentence
3 August 2025
by Kurt Sansone

It is shocking when a doctor asks patients to lie but that is what pro-choice doctors are urging women to do when seeking medical assistance after an abortion.

The reason for such advice is for women to avoid legal complications given that abortion is illegal and punishable by a prison sentence.

Continued: https://www.maltatoday.com.mt/news/national/136311/a_doctors_shocking_necessity_to_ask_patients_to_lie_about_their_abortion_

Malta – Woman gets suspended sentence after admitting to medical abortion

By John Paul Cordina
July 30, 2025

A 28-year-old woman has received a suspended sentence after she pleaded guilty to having a medical abortion. The woman is understood to have bought abortifacient pills from the internet, and used them to induce abortion at an early stage of the pregnancy in November 2024.

But she went to the hospital after experiencing abdominal pain, and after confirming that she had had a medical abortion, the doctors examining her saw fit to inform the police.

The woman was subsequently arraigned under summons, and on her guilty plea was sentenced to a 22-month jail term suspended for two years.

Continued: https://newsbook.com.mt/en/woman-gets-suspended-sentence-after-admitting-to-medical-abortion/

30.07.2025

News

Malta Voice for Choice

prosecuting women for abortion

Singapore – Baby died after mum took abortion pills and gave birth in toilet; coroner records an open verdict

Jul 16, 2025

SINGAPORE – Wanting to terminate her pregnancy, an unmarried young woman consumed abortion pills she had bought online and gave birth later that day to a baby girl in a bathroom of her home.

The infant died less than two hours later. An autopsy revealed that her gestational age was around 29 to 33 weeks.

The baby’s mother, who was then around 23 years old, later told investigators that she did not undergo legal abortion as she found the procedure to be expensive, and she was afraid her parents would find out about it.

Continued: https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/courts-crime/baby-died-after-mum-took-abortion-pills-and-gave-birth-in-toilet-coroner-records-an-open-verdict

16.07.2025

News

mifepristone and misoprostol

prosecuting women for abortion

Singapore Medical Association

UK – “This is about having control over reproductive rights”

MSI’s deputy medical director on the upcoming vote that could end women being prosecuted for abortions

By Sarah Salkeld
June 15, 2025

Next week, MPs will have the chance to vote on the NC1 amendment to the Crime and Policing Bill that would prevent women from being prosecuted for ending their own pregnancy. Here, Sarah Salkeld, deputy medical director at MSI Reproductive Choices, discusses current abortion law, the need for reform and why this vote could signal a monumental shift in reproductive care for women.

As told to Susanne Norris
Abortion law is complicated – I can see why a lot of people might be confused about it or feel like they don’t have enough information to hand. Essentially, in England, Scotland and Wales, the Abortion Act of 1967 means that abortion is legal, but you’ve got to meet a specific set of criteria – including two doctors giving consent for the abortion and for women to give certain reasons for wanting one – in order to access it. At MSI, we can provide abortions up to 23 weeks and six days. The law only allows an abortion to take place after this if there is a risk to someone’s life or a very severe foetal abnormality is found.

Continued: https://www.stylist.co.uk/health/abortion-decriminalisation-vote-crime-policing-bill/993811

15.06.2025

Interviews/Podcasts

Abortion Act 1967

decriminalisation of abortion

Infant Life Preservation Act

MSI Reproductive Choices

NC1 amendment

Offences Against the Person Act

prosecuting women for abortion

Why abortion rights in the UK are getting more and more perilous

Campaigners say confused health professionals are driving the increasing prosecutions of women. Others blame the police. But ultimately, the Crown Prosecution Service has questions to answer

Zoe Williams
Mon 19 May 2025

Earlier this month, Nicola Packer was found not guilty of illegally terminating a pregnancy, after taking abortion pills beyond the legal limit of 10 weeks. She had spent more than four years living in the shadow of this prosecution, every detail of which – as reported by Phoebe Davis – is completely harrowing. In 2020, Packer was arrested before she left Chelsea and Westminster hospital, still bleeding from major surgery.

Packer is one of six women to be prosecuted for this crime in England since the end of 2022, under the Offences Against the Person Act, which had previously only been used in such cases three times since its introduction in 1861. Even that striking, inexplicable figure doesn’t begin to describe how many people have fallen victim to these prosecutions. There have been cases of women denied contact with their children while police investigated a charge that came to nothing. A teenager who had a late miscarriage was arrested in front of her entire street – her privacy, her education, her peace of mind completely destroyed.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/society/commentisfree/2025/may/19/why-abortion-rights-in-the-uk-are-getting-more-and-more-perilous