Women arrested/prosecuted for miscarriages

[ArabellaScott]

Article looking at recent US case, but also other countries and some of the legal issues involved. This includes laws that should be helping women, but are being used against them, instead:

'women were prosecuted using what are known as "foetal assault laws", which exist in at least 38 states.

These laws were intended to help punish abusers who harm pregnant women, many spurred by a 2004 federal law passed after the murder of Laci Peterson, who was pregnant, by her husband.

But many of these laws are ambiguous, and leave the doors open for prosecutors to charge women whose behaviours may have contributed to a miscarriage or stillbirth. '

www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-59214544

I saw that article and find it infuriating that this is happening, but not surprising given how much some states want to control the lives of women who are unfortunate enough to live there.

I must say, the older I get, the more angry and incensed I get that women are subject to this level of interference and control over their own bodies. Just leave us alone to make our own decisions, whether good, bad, foolish, wise, risky, cautious, or whatever!

This was raised as a probable outcome when one state made this law.

It's appalling.

I did see that article and it wasn't at all clear what had gone on in individual cases. I wish there had been more detail about other cases and the circumstances in which this is happening. Not to excuse it, as it's awful, but just to understand a bit more about what their justification is. The reporting was all a bit vague and looked like no one from the BBC had actually researched it.

I'm not at all saying that it's not happening. I'm sure it is.

Just read the twitter thread attached to the news article. I probably shouldn't be surprised that many are excusing this because the woman was on meth.

That is surely very dodgy grounds for a prosecution like this. They can't possibly prove that the drug taking caused the miscarriage. Even if they could prove it, so what? 4 years in prison is hardly the way to deal with this issue.

I wonder if white, middle class women with a drink problem would be sent to prison for a miscarriage.

Even if she had been taking meth and that had caused a miscarriage, that still isn't a criminal act (bar the acquiring and possession of the drugs) and is nothing to do with anyone else apart from the woman and her chosen health care providers.

These laws about people who attack pregnant women are meant to give additional weight to the fact that harming the woman is motivated by a desire to harm the pregnancy. It's about additional harm and distress to women as victims of violence. It should never be about criminalising women for their own life choices, even if those choices are very poor or self destructive.

Its ridiculous to treat meth taking causing a miscarriage as supposedly criminal when the USA is knee deep in children and young adults appallingly affected by lifetime disabilities due to drug and alcohol use during pregnancy, and to the trauma they were subjected to before being removed by social services. Most of those children if not the massive majority are not having their needs met properly if at all by their state, because they are extremely expensive and many will have lifetime care needs and be unable to live independently.

Until there is legal comeback and proper lifetime support for children who come into this world alive, it's ridiculous to be prosecuting women for a miscarriage and begins to look like simple, thoughtless moral purity, zealotry and control of women's bodies for political reasons. Those children are not nearly so important to the state from the moment of birth onwards.

simple, thoughtless moral purity, zealotry and control of women's bodies for political reasons. Those children are not nearly so important to the state from the moment of birth onwards.

Accurate summary.

These laws about people who attack pregnant women are meant to give additional weight to the fact that harming the woman is motivated by a desire to harm the pregnancy. It's about additional harm and distress to women as victims of violence. It should never be about criminalising women for their own life choices, even if those choices are very poor or self destructive.

I was struck by the fact a law brought in to address a vile form of male violence, men killing their pregnant partners, is now being used against the women themselves for the “crime” of miscarrying. Surprise, surprise. There’s no getting away from misogyny, is there.

Given that this sort of thing has been happening in Latin America for some time now, and the recent restrictions on abortion, it seems like the USA is sliding into parity with parts of the developing world when it comes to women being treated as human.

Another step closer to Gilead indeed.

@Artichokeleaves

Its ridiculous to treat meth taking causing a miscarriage as supposedly criminal when the USA is knee deep in children and young adults appallingly affected by lifetime disabilities due to drug and alcohol use during pregnancy, and to the trauma they were subjected to before being removed by social services. Most of those children if not the massive majority are not having their needs met properly if at all by their state, because they are extremely expensive and many will have lifetime care needs and be unable to live independently.

Until there is legal comeback and proper lifetime support for children who come into this world alive, it's ridiculous to be prosecuting women for a miscarriage and begins to look like simple, thoughtless moral purity, zealotry and control of women's bodies for political reasons. Those children are not nearly so important to the state from the moment of birth onwards.

Excellent post.

And as the article says, where does it end if you justify these prosecutions? Having a glass of wine while pregnant, speeding, eating runny eggs or soft cheese?

At what point do women stop being autonomous human beings and start being mere incubators? At the moment of conception according to the reasoning behind these laws.

Such an easy fix, isn’t it - punish the woman. It’s such a well worn groove in patriarchy, it just feels normal, familiar and right.

Yet another arena where we have people so convinced of their moral rightness that they are blind to the fact that it is the way they are treating women that is immoral and inhuman: it is they who are “sinning” most grievously, not the women they assign themselves the right to judge.

@AssassinatedBeauty

Even if she had been taking meth and that had caused a miscarriage, that still isn't a criminal act (bar the acquiring and possession of the drugs) and is nothing to do with anyone else apart from the woman and her chosen health care providers.

These laws about people who attack pregnant women are meant to give additional weight to the fact that harming the woman is motivated by a desire to harm the pregnancy. It's about additional harm and distress to women as victims of violence. It should never be about criminalising women for their own life choices, even if those choices are very poor or self destructive.

For sure, I found it interesting/appalling that the legislation had been twisted like this. Perhaps govts need to get better at precise wording and checks to avoid things like this happening? We are basing laws on sex/gender without a clear definition. It's not good policy making.