Jessica Valenti

Anti-Abortion Laws Will Put Women in Jail

We know because women are already being punished

Alabama State capitol building in Montgomery. Credit: krblokhin/Getty Images

Another day, another anti-abortion law — this time in Alabama, where Republicans are trying to make abortion punishable by up to 99 years in prison, with no exceptions for rape or incest survivors. A vote on the bill, which is expected to pass, was delayed after a clash on the Senate floor.

As more states try to adopt what are essentially full bans on abortion, I’ve seen some on the right argue that criminalizing the procedure won’t really punish women — that no matter what the law says, in reality no one is going to put a woman in jail for getting an abortion.

This is absolutely not true, and we have proof: Women are already being arrested and put in jail because of anti-choice laws — even with the protection of Roe v. Wade.

Melissa Ann Rowland of Utah was arrested and charged with murder after one of her twins was stillborn. The reason? She had refused a C-section.

Purvi Patel of Indiana was sentenced to 20 years in prison for feticide. She said she had a miscarriage, and no traces of any abortifacient were found in her blood work.

Angela Carder was 27 years old, 26 weeks pregnant, and had cancer. She was forced to undergo a C-section in Washington, D.C. to try to save the baby despite the risk to her health. They both died.

Michelle Lee — on a waiting list for a heart transplant — was denied an abortion by a Louisiana hospital despite the pregnancy endangering her life. She had to be transported to Texas by ambulance to end the pregnancy.

Anti-choice organizations have long claimed that women who have abortions are victims; when questioned about criminalization, they insist women won’t be punished.

Rennie Gibbs of Mississippi was 16 years old when she delivered a stillborn baby — she was indicted on charges of “depraved-heart murder” after accusations that she used drugs. A woman in Louisiana was jailed on charges of second-degree murder after she went to the hospital for unexplained vaginal bleeding. It was over…