In 2013, the Journal of Public Health Law and Policy published Pregnancy Justice’s (then named National Advocates for Pregnant Women) peer-reviewed study documenting 413 arrests, detentions, forced medical interventions like C-sections, and other violations of women’s liberty from the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision through 2005. Being pregnant was a necessary element of the alleged crimes or punitive actions taken by the state.
The majority of the 413 cases involved pregnancy and substance use, and the majority of the pregnancies resulted in healthy births.
In 2023, Pregnancy Justice released a new report, The Rise of Pregnancy Criminalization, documenting 1,396 cases from 2006 up to the June 2022 reversal of Roe by the U.S. Supreme Court.