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Which state is trying to make miscarriage a crime
Executive summary
Reporting shows no single state has an across‑the‑board law that literally makes all miscarriages a crime, but prosecutors and some statutes in multiple states have been used to investigate or charge people after pregnancy loss, and recent statements by a West Virginia prosecutor prompted fresh concern that miscarriages could be prosecuted there [1] [2]. Advocacy groups and legal analysts document hundreds of pregnancy‑related prosecutions since 2022 and point to a patchwork of fetal‑personhood, fetal‑harm, corpse‑concealment and drug‑endangerment statutes that prosecutors can apply to miscarriages or stillbirths [3] [1] [4].
1. A national pattern, not a single “criminalize miscarriage” law
Multiple outlets and legal researchers show the phenomenon is geographic and statutory rather than the product of one new statewide criminal statute outlawing miscarriage; instead, a range of existing laws — from fetal‑personhood provisions to concealment, abuse‑of‑a‑corpse, chemical endangerment and fetal‑harm statutes — have been used to investigate or prosecute pregnancy losses in states including Arkansas, Ohio, Georgia, Oklahoma, Alabama and others [1] [4] [5].
2. How prosecutions happen: legal workarounds prosecutors use
Prosecutors have relied on laws that were not written to punish spontaneous pregnancy loss but can be stretched to do so: “concealing a birth” or “concealing a death,” abuse‑of‑a‑corpse statutes, chemical endangerment for prenatal drug exposure, and fetal‑homicide or fetal‑personhood statutes that treat fetuses as separate victims [6] [4] [5]. The Marshall Project and Planned Parenthood explain these laws create investigative pathways without expressly criminalizing miscarriage itself [1] [6].
3. Recent flashpoint: West Virginia prosecutor’s comments
A Raleigh County prosecutor in West Virginia publicly told women to report miscarriages to police to “protect themselves” and said women could face charges if they buried, flushed or hid fetal remains — remarks that sparked coverage and alarm that local practice, not new statute, could expose grieving people to investigation [2] [7]. The reporting shows the prosecutor said he was personally opposed to prosecuting women who miscarry but acknowledged other officials might be willing to use existing laws about disposal of human remains [2].
4. Documented scale and cases: hundreds of pregnancy‑related charges
Pregnancy Justice and journalistic investigations catalog at least hundreds of cases: one report cited by Mother Jones found at least 412 people charged between June 2022 and June 2024 for crimes related to pregnancies, losses or births; The Marshall Project and other outlets detail specific arrests and prosecutions across states [3] [1]. These counts show a trend of selective enforcement rather than broad, uniform criminalization [3] [1].
5. Medical reality vs. legal risk
Medical authorities and reporting stress miscarriages are common — roughly 10–20% of known pregnancies end in miscarriage — which clashes with fears that routine losses could lead to criminal scrutiny if prosecutors interpret ambiguous statutes expansively [3] [1]. Legal observers warn that fetal‑personhood language and broad statutes risk conflating spontaneous medical events with criminal conduct [5] [8].
6. Who is most at risk, and why advocates are alarmed
Civil‑liberties and reproductive‑rights groups say these prosecutions disproportionately affect Black and low‑income people and can re‑entrench racial and class bias in the criminal legal system; the Brennan Center and others document cases where drug‑endangerment or related laws have been used to punish pregnancy outcomes [9] [10]. Advocates argue this pattern can chill medical care‑seeking and compound trauma for people who lose pregnancies [9] [11].
7. Competing perspectives and legal defenses
Prosecutors sometimes portray these actions as enforcing laws to protect fetal life or public health, and some say targeted prosecutions concern concealment or violence rather than routine miscarriage; others — including defense attorneys and reproductive‑rights groups — insist many prosecutions lack medical basis and press for legislative clarifications or immunity measures to prevent investigations after pregnancy loss [1] [11].
8. What to watch next
Watch state legislatures and prosecutors’ offices: some states are seeing bills to expand fetal personhood or tighten penalties that could increase risk [8], while other jurisdictions and advocacy coalitions are pushing statutes that would bar investigations or prosecutions for pregnancy loss [11]. Local prosecutorial guidance — like the West Virginia prosecutor’s statements — can change practice even without new law, so local reporting and court challenges will be key to outcomes [2] [4].
Limits and unavailable details: available sources document prosecutions, statutes used and specific local statements, but do not identify a single state that has enacted a statute expressly making miscarriages per se a crime (not found in current reporting); courts and future legislation will determine how the patchwork of laws is applied in practice [1] [5].