By If/When/How
Prosecuting pregnancy loss and self-managed abortion is on the rise–we’ve seen it in the client calls we’ve taken, the bail we’ve funded, and the cases we’ve litigated.
Police and prosecutors are digging up antiquated sexist laws–like “concealing a birth”–to charge people with crimes for self-managing their abortion or having a pregnancy loss. These outdated laws were originally intended to punish women for having sex outside marriage.
There are 16 states with “concealing a birth” laws on the books. In 2026, we’re going after these state laws, and others, that are used to criminalize people for their abortions and pregnancy loss.
It’s essential that we get these laws off the books and you can help us:
- Sign up to be part of the fight to change the laws in your state. Working with state partners is essential to our strategy. We don’t parachute into states to take over work, but build intentional relationships and pass laws with partners that make sense for each state.
- Donate $26 you can help us scale up to meet this challenge in 2026 and prevent people from being criminalized for how their pregnancy ends, no matter what state they live in.
Using these old laws isn’t a new tactic–people were being charged under the same kinds of laws before Dobbs. But anti-abortion advocates and prosecutors are increasingly turning to courtrooms and cops to punish pregnant people and their support networks. We’ve been hearing over and over on our Helpline that callers fear jail time for getting an abortion.
How are we going to do this? We’re using our decades of experience fighting for pregnant people in courts and capitols to work side-by-side with state partners to pass bills that protect people’s dignity in pregnancy loss. These acts honor and support people who experience pregnancy loss by adding protections, prohibiting state punishment, and repealing laws that can be weaponized to criminalize people for having a miscarriage, stillbirth, or abortion.
The good news is, with our state partners, we’ve already changed the law in California and Washington to decriminalize pregnancy loss. Not only did we repeal these bad laws, but those efforts also resulted in new legal protections to help prevent pregnancy loss and center pregnant people’s dignity.
All pregnant people should be treated with dignity. Let’s transform the law to make that happen.