Conservatives push to declare fetuses as people, with far-reaching consequences • Stateline

Missouri is one of several Republican -led states where lawmakers have taken a renewed interest in fetal personhood legislation.

At least 19 states — either through state law, criminal statutes or case law — have declared that fetuses at some stage of pregnancy are people.

If the law considers fetuses to be people, the thinking goes, then abortion would legally be considered murder.

The court cited Alabama ’s constitutional amendment, passed by voters in 2018 , that confers personhood on fetuses.

The backlash underscored how many lawmakers hadn’t fully considered the far-reaching implications and legal bedlam that can be created by fetal personhood laws.

Fetal personhood has implications for birth control, too.

Pregnancy Justice documented nearly 1,400 instances of pregnant women being charged, often for substance use, in the 16 years leading up to the June 2022 decision.

Most of the cases occurred in a handful of Southern states, including Alabama , South Carolina and Tennessee .

Nearly 85% of pregnancy criminalization cases involved charges against a pregnant person who was legally indigent.