Since the Dobbs decision removed the federal guarantee of a right to an abortion, states have enacted restrictions beyond bans to try to minimize the practice. Many of those laws have targeted abortion providers, like doctors and hospitals, for performing the procedure.
But a few states are weighing whether to pave the way for charges against women who get an abortion. They include murder, manslaughter and related crimes.
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As state lawmakers seek to cement the notion that life begins at conception, four states—Indiana, North Dakota, Oklahoma, and South Carolina—have bills on the table changing their criminal codes on homicides. None have advanced out of committee, but all have multiple co-sponsors, indicating more support than other bills.
The laws have slight variations. However, all of them would allow homicide laws to govern the deaths of fertilized eggs and fetuses from the moment of conception.
Likewise, all of the laws include exemptions if the mother’s life is at risk. They also include situations involving spontaneous miscarriage.
Other abortion restrictions often include this provision. However, medical providers in those states have already faced broader dilemmas, including confusion over when they can legally intervene.
In vitro fertilization (IVF) may also have an uncertain future if the laws take effect. The process can involve the destruction of an embryo.
Despite widespread political opposition to limiting IVF, previous laws expanding personhood have opened the door to court rulings, putting the process at risk.
Alabama’s Supreme Court ruled last February that embryos created through IVF were children, threatening the treatment’s future in the state.
But after a backlash, including from Donald Trump and other Republicans who generally oppose abortion rights, Alabama enacted a law protecting IVF.
