ADefenders of borational rights follow closely what they call an increasing and alarming trend: the legislators of several states have introduced bills that would allow the authorities to invoice people who obtain abortions with homicide.
These bills were presented in at least 10 states for the legislative session of 2025: Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Missouri, Dakota du Nord, Oklahoma, Caroline du Sud and Texas, according to the Center for Reproductive Rights, which follows these proposals. Most of these states have already prohibited abortion either in almost all circumstances or after six weeks of pregnancy. (Missouri and Northern Dakota are the only exceptions; both had previously total abortion that have since been canceled.)
The bills refer to an embryo or a fetus like an “unborn child” or a “pre-born child”. They claim that an embryo or a fetus may be a victim of a homicide, opening the door to the authorities to invoice and continue the people who ask for abortions. Certain bills also propose the abolition of the laws of the laws of the states which protected the enclosures which seek abortions against prosecution. The bills include limited exceptions, as in a situation, which leads to “the involuntary death of a pre-born child” after “rescue procedures to save the life of a mother when they are accompanied by reasonable measures, if available, to save the life of her pre-born child.”
Lizzy Hinkley, Principal legislative lawyer at the Center for Reproductive Rights, says that she thinks that there has been an increase in the number of these bills that have been introduced this year, which is “very, very alarming”. Hinkley stresses that many states that envisage these bills, such as South Carolina, allow the death penalty.
“It is immediately the anti-abortion game book to present bills that are trying to control, try to opt and punish pregnant people,” she said.
Three of these bills – in Indiana, North Dakota and Oklahoma – have since failed. And Mary Ziegler – A professor at the University of California at Davis School of Law with an expertise in abortion – says the probability that the remaining bills that adopt are “relatively low”. These types of proposals are generally unpopular; Ziegler says that even conservatives and anti-abortion activists are divided on the advisability of penalizing people looking for abortions.
“That said, I think [these bills are] More likely to pass than in previous years, and the fact that they continue to return in return is significant, ”explains Ziegler. She adds that more of these bills have been introduced since the 2022 decision of the United States Supreme Court in 2022 Dobbs c. Jackson Women’s Health Organization,, which ended the constitutional right to abortion.
As a rule, anti-abortion laws penalize medical suppliers offering abortion care. On March 17, the Texas Attorney General announced that a state midwife had been arrested for providing abortions illegally – the first time that Texas officials have advanced this type of accusations since the Dobbs decision. In addition, a doctor based in New York faces a civil prosecution in Texas and criminal charges in Louisiana for having pretended, via telemedicine, abortion pills to patients in these states.
Find out more: What are the laws on the abortion shield?
Recent criminalization bills also include rhetoric of fetal personality – a legal doctrine at the forefront of the fight on the reproductive rights which aims to give an embryo and a fetus the legal rights of people. On his first day of power, President Donald Trump signed a decree declaring that the United States government will only recognize “two sexes, men and women”. The defenders of abortion rights have sounded the alarm, affirming that the order contains a fetal personality language because it claims that sex is attributed “to conception”.
Hinkley says research has already revealed that criminalization of pregnancy has been increasing since Dobbs decision. Pregnancy justice, a non -profit organization committed to protecting the rights of the speakers, published a report in September, which found that at least 210 pregnant faced criminal charges for “associated conduct” with pregnancy in the year following the Dobbs SUMMITION – The highest number recorded in one year. Hinkley says that this report “presumed what we see at the moment”.
“No matter if [the bills] Pass this year; They will be back next year, “explains Hinkley.” There was a point not so long ago, when it seems absurd to have a total prohibition of abortion without exception for rape and incest, or a total prohibition of abortion, a period, without exception to save the health of a pregnant person, and this is the reality in which the enclosures live in the whole country at the moment. So, whether this year or next year or a few years later, it is a very painful indication of what the end game is for anti-abortion legislators and anti-abortion activists. »»
