Tennessee advances bill to ban people from helping minors obtain abortion

The bill would allow individuals to sue for “wrongful death” after an abortion – language that suggests that a fetus is legally considered a person. Establishing the legal personhood of fetuses is a longtime goal of the anti-abortion movement and could have sweeping implications for vast swathes of US law, as it could leave pregnant … Read more

Florida Chief Justice Pushes Fetal Personhood At Argument For Abortion Amendment

Muñiz was quoting from one of the earliest passages in Florida’s constitution that says that all natural persons “are equal before the law and have inalienable rights, among which are the right to enjoy and defend life and liberty, to pursue happiness, to be rewarded for industry, and to acquire, possess and protect property.” If … Read more

Even at March for Life, abortion opponents don’t talk about a national ban

Johnson highlighted two bills House Republicans passed this week. One would block a proposed federal rule meant to keep states from using money from the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program (TANF) — one of the programs most often associated with the term welfare — to support anti-abortion centers. Another bill would require that colleges … Read more

Texas questions rights of fetus in prison guard lawsuit despite arguing opposite on abortion

In defending themselves against a lawsuit, Texas officials have argued that an “unborn child” may not have rights under the US constitution, putting them in tension with arguments made by the state’s attorney’s general’s office as well as Republican lawmakers to support restrictions to abortion. Read more at The Guardian  

‘They railroad them’: the states using ‘fetal personhood’ laws to criminalize mothers

She is one of hundreds of women prosecuted on similar charges in Alabama, Mississippi, Oklahoma and South Carolina. Law enforcement and prosecutors in those states have expanded their use of child abuse and neglect laws in recent years to police the conduct of pregnant women under the concept of “fetal personhood”, a tenet promoted by … Read more

The Coming Rise of Abortion as a Crime

Although much is still unknown about how abortion bans will be enforced, we have arrived at a time when abortions—and even other pregnancy losses—might be investigated as potential crimes. In many states across post-Roe America, expect to see women treated like criminals. Read more at The Atlantic

Georgia Says A Fetus Is A Person. The Implications Are Terrifying.

While several states have even more extreme abortion restrictions, including banning abortion from the point of conception, Georgia’s includes a uniquely terrifying clause: It recognizes an embryo or fetus as a person after six weeks of pregnancy. * The termination, or suspected termination, of a pregnancy after the six-week point could be considered murder under … Read more