The Pregnancy Police: Conceiving Crime, Arresting PersonhoodDecades before the overturning of Roe v. Wade, pregnant people faced arrest and prosecution for supposed crimes against the fertilized eggs, embryos, and fetuses they gestated. The Pregnancy Police investigates the legal arguments undergirding these prosecutions and sheds much-needed light on the networks of health-care providers, social workers, and legal personnel participating in this ongoing surveillance and punishment of pregnant people. Drawing on detailed analyses of legislation, statements from prosecutors and law enforcement, and records from over a thousand arrest cases, Grace E. Howard traces the long history of state attempts to regulate and control people who have the capacity for pregnancy—from the early twentieth century's white supremacist eugenics to the end of Roe and the ever-increasing criminalization of abortion across the United States. |
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abortion Accessed November 24 Addiction Alabama Alcohol amphetamines Ankrom Archived news article article on file baby Black women capacity for pregnancy charged chemical endangerment child abuse cisgender contraceptive County crack cocaine crimes death defendants district attorney drug court Drug Policy Alliance drug treatment embryos eugenic explained fertilized eggs fetal protection feticide fetus fetuses file with author gave birth gender harm health-care providers hospital impact incarcerated interview on file involved jail Journal Julia Tutwiler law enforcement maternal meth methamphetamine mother newborn November 24 opioid opioid use disorder Original interview Paltrow percent policies political postpartum preg pregnancy police pregnant pregnant drug users pregnant person pregnant women prenatal prison Professor prosecutors punitive racial record on file Reproductive Justice Roberts sentence sexual social South Carolina status stillbirth substance use disorder Supreme Court Tennessee tested positive tion told reporters treat unborn violence war on drugs Whitner