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

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.

Critics warn of legal chaos if the law considers fetuses to be people, the thinking goes.

Last year , Arizona state Rep. Matt Gress introduced five pregnancy-related bills that he said were inspired by his experience growing up in a family headed by a single mother.

One of the bills would have allowed families to retroactively claim child tax credits in the year before a baby is born.

Another would have let pregnant women drive alone in a highway car pool lane, their fetus counting as a separate passenger.

Nearly 85% of pregnancy criminalization cases in the Pregnancy Justice report involved charges against a pregnant person who was legally indigent.

The laws were disproportionately applied to poor women and women of color, the report says.

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