The Newly Revived Zombie Laws Threatening to Lock Up Women When They Miscarry
A pro-abortion-rights protester blocks anti-abortion counterprotesters near the Republican National Convention on July 15, 2024, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Photo by Jim Vondruska/Getty Images Copy Link Share Share Comment Copy Link Share Share Comment Last week, the Wisconsin Supreme Court heard oral arguments in one of a pair of cases that will determine access to abortion in the state. The case also illuminates how feticide laws, which are on the books in the vast majority of states, can be transformed into abortion bans by conservative prosecutors and courts.
The Wisconsin case centers on an 1849 law that dictates that “any person, other than the mother, who intentionally takes the life of an unborn child” is guilty of a felony unless a life exception applies. When the Supreme Court overruled Roe in 2022, Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul asked the state courts to clarify that this law was not an abortion ban but a feticide law—and thus did not apply to consensual abortions.
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