Oklahoma has among the highest rates of pregnancy-related prosecutions in the US

Oklahoma had the second-highest number of pregnancy-related prosecutions nationwide in the year, behind Roe. v. Wade was overturned, according to a new study by the interest group Pregnancy Justice.

From June 24, 2022 to June 23, 2023, there were at least 210 pregnancy-related prosecutions in the US. This is the highest number of these prosecutions documented in a single year. Oklahoma followed Alabama with 68 prosecutions.

The report notes that the total may be an undercount because the research team is still uncovering cases from this period. It is also noted that the team had more resources to uncover cases, meaning they were able to identify more cases than in recent years.

A majority of these defendants across the country are low-income, and their charges often involve some form of child abuse, neglect or endangerment. Prosecutors have overwhelmingly charged pregnant people with offenses that did not require proof that the pregnant woman had harmed a fetus or baby.

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Janet Levit, a law professor at the University of Tulsa, teaches a reproductive rights practical in addition to the O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law at Georgetown University Law Center. It partners with local and national organizations to work on developing projects to educate students about reproductive rights and justice.

Levit received help from the Pregnancy Judge, who sought support in identifying cases of criminalization during pregnancy. She contacted professors involved in the research and offered her students to investigate these cases.

From there, her students graded reporting from outlets like The Frontier identify cases. They searched for cases electronically and requested charging documents and other public records documenting these allegations of child neglect. That information has been sent to Maternity Justice.

Investigations have found cases in which pregnant Oklahomans with legal medical marijuana cards were prosecuted

Levit said Oklahoma has created the conditions for these prosecutions by being a state that applies its criminal child neglect law to an “unborn child.” Although the original statute did not contain this term, The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals ruled in 2020 in State v. Green that pregnant people can be charged with child neglect for using drugs during pregnancy. The term ‘unborn child’ was used in the ruling.

“I agree with the Court’s conclusion that acts of exposure to illegal drugs against an unborn human offspring are actionable as child neglect under 21 OSSupp.2014, section 843.5(C),” said a concurring opinion in the case . “The Legislature removed all reasonable doubts about the State’s policy when it amended 21 OS2011, § 691(B) to define the term ‘human’ to include an ‘unborn child.’

Levit said an example of a charge you might encounter in Oklahoma involves a pregnant person using a substance during pregnancy. In the cases her practicum looked at, some were illegal substances, some were controlled but legal, and several pregnant people had legal medical marijuana cards.

But when their babies were born and their meconium – or the newborn’s earliest stool – was tested, traces of substances like marijuana, methamphetamine or opioids were found. She said the majority of the cases they saw were related to marijuana.

More: New Kansas Planned Parenthood clinic expands access to abortion for Oklahomans

From there, the results make their way to law enforcement one way or another. Levit said they are still trying to figure out how this happens.

She said law enforcement often doesn’t use drug or substance laws, but instead looks for criminal child neglect. Pregnant people have been charged even after the birth of healthy babies.

She said they believe many of these people will take plea deals.

“The consequences are that their children are often taken away from them… and this does not seem to be a positive thing for families in Oklahoma,” Levit said.

Additional consequences of these charges extend to other people who are addicted. Levit said those seeking treatment for their addiction may become reluctant to ask for help if they are pregnant or worried they might be pregnant.

“If a pregnant woman fears that her drug use will be discovered, either through prenatal care or a hospital birth, that woman is unlikely to have access to prenatal care, which again is not healthy for the child. , and can also attempt home delivery, as described in the report,” said Levit. “So it just creates a huge discouragement.”

Levit said she is concerned about how the criminalization of pregnancy intersects with the incarceration of women in Oklahoma – a rate that stands out nationally. It worries her all the more as the fetal personhood movement continues to gain traction in a state that already has several statutes on the books recognizing it.

During the last legislative session, the Oklahoma Legislature considered it House Bill 3002which would have extended rights to a woman’s unborn child, saying it could also be a victim of abuse, and of aggravated assault and battery. The bill died before reaching the Senate floor.

Some legislators concerns expressed on the possible consequences this could have for fertility treatments, saying that unlawful use of force could apply in situations where damage to an embryo occurs during treatments. This conversation came not long after legislation in Alabama That caused fertility clinics to close because they feared lawsuits or criminal charges.

“The fact that that battery law didn’t pass doesn’t mean that we don’t have several laws on the books that already recognize some degree of prenatal personhood. … This could be a slow path or an incremental path to full-fledged prenatal personhood in Oklahoma,” Levit said.

This article was originally published by StateImpact Oklahoma. StateImpact Oklahoma is a partnership of public radio stations in Oklahoma that relies on contributions from readers and listeners to fulfill its mission of public service to Oklahoma and beyond.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Oklahoma has the second-highest pregnancy-related prosecution in the US