Abstract

 
 
 Since the 1690s, women in the United States have been arrested and punished for experiencing miscarriages and stillbirths—pregnancy outcomes that are completely normal. This practice continues to the modern day, where prosecutors charge women with concealing a birth, concealing a death, or abuse of a corpse for the actions they take after experiencing pregnancy loss. This Note argues that these statutes were originally enacted to punish women who had sex outside of marriage and are now being used to control women, mostly women of color and poor women, for not adhering to society’s idealized vision of femininity and motherhood. The use of these statutes advances notions of fetal personhood and will ultimately have a chilling effect on the availability of abortion through telemedicine. The Note suggests that while repealing these laws would help, the best solution is to approach the issue through a reproductive justice lens—namely, increasing the availability of education and medical services for women.
 
 
Highlights
One of the most heartbreaking events in a woman’s life can be the loss of her pregnancy.[1]
Abuse and disposal of a corpse statutes differ from concealment statutes in that their original purpose is not focused on the potential murder of a newborn child
The court ruled that placing the corpse in a dumpster “constitutes a form of mishandling, abuse, or neglect [and] the jury could have concluded that [the defendant’s] conduct amounted to physical mistreatment of a corpse in a manner offensive to a person of reasonable sensibilities.”[58]. Shielded by expansions of this kind, states may be using abuse of a corpse statutes against women who have suffered a normal pregnancy loss and have committed no crime other than disposing of the fetus in an improper way.[59]
Summary
One of the most heartbreaking events in a woman’s life can be the loss of her pregnancy.[1]. 40.2 weeks.[3] Pregnancy loss is extremely common; one study estimated that, in total, about thirty-one percent of all pregnancies end before delivery.[4] The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that there are 24,000 stillbirths in the United States each year, or about 5.89 stillbirths per 1,000 births.[5] it is often difficult to pinpoint the cause of a specific miscarriage or stillbirth.[6] Even though both pregnancy and pregnancy loss are common and natural, a review found that between 1973 and 2005, there were at least 413 cases in the United States of pregnancy or pregnancy loss being the basis of an attempted or actual arrest, detention, or forced intervention.[7] The majority of those cases involved allegations that the pregnant woman used illegal drugs while pregnant.[8] But there is a subset of cases where women were charged not for their actions during pregnancy, but instead based on their post-birth actions This Note discusses cases where women experienced a miscarriage or stillbirth and were later charged with the state crimes of concealing a birth or death, or a crime related to disposal of a corpse. Part I discusses the reasons why a woman may
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