They were prosecuted for using drugs while pregnant. But it may not have been a crime.

Some local investigators and prosecutors are pursuing similar cases in Alabama, Oklahoma and South Carolina. They are policing pregnant people under an expanded interpretation of child abuse and neglect laws — even if parents birthed healthy babies, according to an investigation by The Marshall Project, Mississippi Today, AL.com, The Frontier and The Post & Courier. … Read more

States add new hurdles to the ballot initiative process making protection reproductive rights more difficult

Ohio Republicans pass a measure that could make it harder to enshrine abortion rights “This is essentially just a way to cheat the system. It is pretty clear this initiative is coming from anti-choice extremists within the Ohio legislature with the goal of finding a way to change the rules so that Ohioans themselves don’t … Read more

Abortion bans are unpopular. Republicans are passing them anyway.

With abortion bans becoming increasingly unpopular, Republican-led statehouses are walking a delicate line: Trying to advance bills that would restrict access to the procedure without drawing attention, circumventing normal processes to cram new policies through as legislative sessions come to a close. Read more at 19th News

Republicans push wave of bills that would bring homicide charges for abortion

The bills have been introduced in states such as Texas, Kentucky, South Carolina, Oklahoma and Arkansas. Some explicitly target medication abortion and self-managed abortion; some look to remove provisions in the law which previously protected pregnant people from criminalization; and others look to establish the fetus as a person from the point of conception. Read … Read more

Abortion bans don’t prosecute pregnant people. That may be about to change.

But that may be changing. A bill introduced Thursday in Oklahoma’s Senate would amend the state’s abortion restrictions, eliminating language that clarifies pregnant people are protected from prosecution. Under that bill, which has not yet been assigned to a legislative committee and has no co-sponsors yet, pregnant people could face felony charges if they induce … Read more