New Study Shows Anti-Choice Policies Leading to Widespread Arrests of and Forced Interventions on Pregnant Women

At RH Reality Check, Lynn Paltrow of the National Advocates for Pregnant Women and Professor Jeanne Flavin of Fordham University write: “On Tuesday, January 15th, the Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law will publish our study, ‘Arrests of and Forced Interventions on Pregnant Women in the United States, 1973-2005: Implications for Women’s Legal Status and Public Health.’ This study makes clear that post-Roe anti-choice and ‘pro-life’ measures are being used to do more than limit access to abortion; they are providing the basis for arresting women, locking them up, and forcing them to submit to medical interventions, including surgery. The cases documented in our study through 2005, as well as more recent cases, make clear that 40 years after Roe v. Wade was decided, far more is at stake than abortion or women’s reproductive rights. Pregnant women face attacks on virtually every right associated with constitutional personhood, including the very basic right to physical liberty.”