A Practical Guide for Healthcare Providers, Lawyers, Medical Examiners, Child Welfare Workers, and Policymakers
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Since 1973, National Advocates for Pregnant Women (“NAPW”) has documented more than 1,700 instances across the country
in which women have been arrested, prosecuted, convicted, detained, or forced to undergo medical interventions because of their pregnancy status or outcomes.2 The rate at which state actors are criminalizing pregnant women is accelerating rapidly. NAPW has documented roughly three times as many deprivations of liberty from 2006-2020 than it has from 1973-2005.3
The women subjected to pregnancy- based prosecutions and forced medical interventions are overwhelmingly low income, disproportionately Black and Brown, and the majority are drug-using.4
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