Where Miscarriage is Manslaughter: Implications of Fetal Personhood Movements on the Legal Status of Pregnant People in Alabama Post-Dobbs

Abstract: What are the implications of fetal personhood movements on the legal status of pregnant people in the U.S. Post-Dobbs? As evidenced by Alabama’s Supreme Court ruling which defined frozen embryos as “extra-uterine children” the ramifications of Dobbs are far-reaching.

Etowah County, Alabama leads the nation in what some medical and legal experts describe as “pregnancy criminalization;” cases in which pregnancy is a necessary element of the crime. Although fueled by fetal personhood movements, pregnancy criminalization contributes to a variety of suboptimal pregnancy outcomes that hurt both members of the maternal-fetal dyad. Carceral settings are gender insensitive, and pregnant women are particularly vulnerable to abuse. Tutwiler Prison for Women in Wetumpka, Alabama was recently investigated for wide-spread sexual abuse of incarcerated women.

In this paper, I will argue that Alabama’s definition of “extra-uterine children” is a logical extension of fetal personhood movements. I will argue that the constitutional protection of abortion is foundational to the equal protection of pregnant persons under the law, and for the promotion of family health as evidenced by the stark disparities in maternal health in Alabama.

In sum, I will examine how socio-legal and medical systems work in tandem to cocreate expanded protections for fetal rights at the expense of the people who carry pregnancies in Alabama. I will present reproductive justice as an alternative pathway forward.