April 6, 2026
By If/When/How

When someone is arrested for an abortion or pregnancy loss, a headline can spread from local media to national outlets, through the internet, and around and around. After the headlines die down, what you don’t hear about is that a tornado of the criminal legal system is ripping through their lives and it can last for years—even a lifetime. 

The criminal legal system is designed to do this. But today, we’ve released a new resource to put more people-power into disrupting the cycle.

From the start, the state wields all its power to wreck people’s lives. Here are just a few hurdles people face when they are charged their abortion or pregnancy loss:

The Initial Impact

  • The harm: When someone is charged, their cases are rarely rooted in the law. Instead, police and prosecutors misuse laws. Sensationalized, police-driven headlines can paint someone as the villain in their own trauma. Both bail and charges can be set at high amounts because of stigma about abortion, poverty, and parenting. 
  • The disruption: We partner with local public defenders to provide case strategy, bail support and legal fees, and media strategy to keep client’s names out of the media. All for free.

Going to Trial

  • The harm: Every aspect of fighting a case is expensive. Bail, legal fees, childcare, transportation, and missed work. Trials can take weeks, or months, or even years. If someone is convicted, they can appeal all the way up to the state supreme court. If someone is a parent or an immigrant, there are other layers of criminalization in family and immigration court that can tear families apart and wreck entire households.
  • The disruption: Our litigation team who has years of experience, offers to co-counsel on cases with local public defenders in trial, appeal, and post-conviction proceedings. We also provide media support throughout the trial to reduce the harm of headlines. We’re there for however long the case lasts. Again, all for free.

The Aftermath

  • The harm: Even after trial, there can be lasting damage. Even if someone isn’t convicted, because of harmful and sensationalized media coverage, people may have to change their name or move states to protect their identities and livelihood. Even though someone may not be behind physical bars, they can still be under state restriction and surveillance through probation and parole, or immigration or family court.
  • The disruption: Our Repro Legal Defense Fund offers support for probation and parole expenses, and we partner with immigration and family defense attorneys who can support the client with the added layers of state surveillance and intrusion. 

We know from our research and years representing clients in court how to disrupt this harmful cycle at every turn. Building a strong defense for these cases must be grounded in the many ways stigma and misunderstanding of pregnancy and abortion play a part. And it takes a whole team of people working together.

That’s why our litigation team created Fighting Reproductive Criminalization: A Defense Practice Manual, a manual built from our years of experience that provides defense attorneys tools and resources in their fight against pregnancy criminalization charges. We’re sharing it with defense attorneys so they can build their understanding of these cases.

Even if you’re not a defense attorney, all of us have a role to play in ending state violence. Here are a few other ways to help disrupt the cycle:

The more arrests, headlines, and lives are disrupted, the more it’s going to take all of us looking out for our community.