Pregnancy Justice

Media & Digital Communications Intern (Summer 2026) NYC - Hybrid | Full-Time | $20/hr Create engaging graphics, social videos, and multimedia content Assist with media relations and reporter communication Work on email marketing and website updates Identify trends in digital content and engage in social listening Support the communications team at live and online events Work with dedicated, smart, and supportive lawyers/staff in reproductive justice!

Join our fight to advance and defend the rights of pregnant people as a summer intern! 🙂‍↕️ Apply by March 23: pregnancyjustice.bamboohr.com/careers/49

Here’s the truth: Providers know mifepristone is

✅ Exceedingly safe
✅ Effective
✅ Makes abortion care more accessible, especially for people in rural areas or states with abortion bans
✅ Helps make it possible for people to make decisions that are best for them

Why SMA: Reasons for Choosing Self-Managed Abortion Most common ways of self-managed abortion -- using abortion pills at home, a combination of Mifepristone and Misoprostol or Misoprostol alone. | SMA

Reproductive justice requires supporting the full spectrum of abortion experiences and allowing people to have their abortions in whatever way is most comfortable for them. reproaction.org/self-managed...

What Is Abortion Decriminalization? - Center for Reproductive Rights Abortion decriminalization means treating abortion as healthcare, not a crime. Learn what it is, why it matters, and how it protects health, rights, and access to care.

❌ No one should face jail time for getting or providing healthcare. Patients and providers should be able to make decisions about abortion without political interference.

👉 Learn more about abortion decriminalization—and why it’s so important—here: https://bit.ly/4hCTOKI

Mifepristone Lawsuit Could Jeopardize National Access to Telehealth Abortion A federal lawsuit led by Louisiana seeks to stop abortion pills from being mailed across the country.

A federal judge in Louisiana could end telehealth access to medication abortion nationwide. 
 
This lawsuit is a blatant attempt to ban abortion. Mifepristone has been safely used for 25 years. It's the most common method of abortion care in America. Women will suffer if access is restricted.

Abortion access should not be based on: income, zip code, immigration status

Everyone deserves access to expert-provided abortion care, no matter who they are or where they're from — without barriers, and without delay. 💙

Having access to abortion allows this mom to study, pursue a new career, and decide if, when, and how to start a family.

Reproductive freedom makes it possible for people to define their own futures on their own terms. Full story below.

https://reproductivefreedomforall.org/podcast-my-body-my-pod/

Text on a grid paper background mimicking a blueprint: A Blueprint to Challenge Pregnancy Criminalization and Move Toward Dignity. A resource for state advocates, lawmakers, and legislative staff providing a roadmap with legislative options and strategies to protect and advance the rights of pregnant people. Photo of blueprint cover page and two other pages.

Text on a grid paper background mimicking a blueprint: A Blueprint to Challenge Pregnancy Criminalization and Move Toward Dignity. Including: model legislation, policy interventions, and opportunities for reform. This blueprint connects the dots across issues that violate the rights of pregnant people and helps answer questions that will improve the health and well-being of mothers, babies, and communities. Request a copy by emailing: PJPolicy@pregnancyjusticeus.org. Read the executive summary at pregnancyjusticeus.org.

NEW RESOURCE🗣️ We’ve created a blueprint for state advocates, lawmakers & legislative staff with strategies and options to protect the rights of pregnant people!

Email PJPolicy@pregnancyjusticeus.org for a copy of the blueprint. Read the executive summary: www.pregnancyjusticeus.org/wp-content/u...

Laws giving fetuses rights are already being used to charge pregnant people with manslaughter or homicide for pregnancy loss while restricting access to care across the country. We should all be paying attention!

TOMORROW 🗓️ You don’t want to miss this webinar! Register at ambar.org/pregnantrights.

Tens of Thousands of Mothers Were Flagged to Police Over Flawed Drug Tests at Childbirth The Marshall Project found more than 70,000 cases referred to law enforcement over allegations of substance use during pregnancy — and that’s a significant undercount. By Shoshana Walter and Jill Castellano

Ayanna Harris-Rashid was sitting up in bed, her newborn son latched to her breast, one hand scrolling on her phone, when the police called. She was wanted on a felony charge of child neglect.Harris-Rashid had just had her third child in March of 2021. To ease pain and frequent nausea, she had used legal CBD gummies and a topical hemp-based ointment throughout her pregnancy. But at the hospital, she and the baby tested positive for marijuana, prompting providers to file a report with the South Carolina Department of Social Services, which forwarded the information to police, records show. Now an officer was demanding Harris-Rashid turn herself in.

For decades, state and federal laws have required hospitals to identify newborns affected by drugs in the womb and to alert child welfare services. In part to comply, many hospitals routinely drug test patients or babies to check if a mother might have used substances.But the tests, which start typically with urine samples, are easy to misinterpret and often wrong. They do not show how often or for how long someone may have used drugs. Most tests cannot distinguish between a positive result caused, for instance, by marijuana — illegal in many states — or a legal substance, such as CBD products. Without confirmation testing and review, positive results often lead hospitals to accuse parents of drug use, even if the substance used was a prescribed medication.

The sheer number of people that law enforcement is tracking is far higher than experts previously knew, including academics and reproductive rights organizations monitoring what they call pregnancy criminalization. Even so, the numbers The Marshall Project compiled represent a significant undercount.“My initial genuine reaction is, frankly, shock and dismay,” said Dana Sussman, senior vice president of the legal advocacy organization Pregnancy Justice, which counted more than 1,800 pregnancy-related arrests and prosecutions from 2006 through 2024. She added, “This represents an incredibly regressive and counterproductive approach.”

“The child welfare agency is acting as an agent of the police. There’s no distinction between the two.”

ALL pregnant people deserve dignity and respect. That means informed consent before drug testing and not being intimidated by police in hospital rooms. Health-based approaches, not punishment.

Pregnancy Police Alert ! Justin Olson has been nominated for a lifetime judicial appointment, despite holding many dangerous and extreme views. Olson believes that fertilized eggs, embryos, and fetuses are people and should have legal rights. He promotes anti-abortion laws that support this radical idea. These laws can be used to block health and life-saving care, ban abortion and IVF, and arrest pregnant people for pregnancy loss. Graphic with a black and white photo of Justin Olson sitting in front of a microphone with red and blue police lights behind him.

Pregnancy Police Alert ! If that isn't enough... Olson has a record of dehumanizing and targeting transgender athletes, considering himself a “specialist” in cases to exclude athletes from college athletics. He has shown that he doesn’t believe that all people should enjoy the same rights. Appointing Olson will put people at risk, especially those who are transgender, LGBTQ+, women, or anyone who can get pregnant. The Senate still needs to vote on his nomination. Call your senators and tell them to reject Olson. Graphic with a black and white photo of Justin Olson sitting in front of a microphone with red and blue police lights behind him.

Pregnancy Police Alert 🚨 Justin Olson supports giving fertilized eggs, embryos & fetuses the same legal rights as you and me. We know that will send even more pregnant people to jail, block life-saving care, ban abortion, and threaten IVF.
📞Call your senators and tell them to REJECT his nomination.

Beyond AB 2223: The Ongoing Fight for Reproductive Justice in California - Part Two Despite legislative reforms designed to protect pregnant and postpartu

Our senior policy counsel Kulsoom Ijaz & ACLU of Southern California senior staff attorney Minouche Kandel wrote about the gap between California’s promise of reproductive justice and the lived realities of pregnant/postpartum people.
The fight doesn't end with bill 2223. lacba.org?pg=LosAngele...

Native Americans Are Dying From Pregnancy. They Want a Voice To Stop the Trend. State and federal officials are working with Native American groups to better track and address pregnancy-related deaths in their communities through maternal mortality review boards.

And this story, originally published by @kffhealthnews.org, looks at efforts by Indigenous communities to improve pregnancy and postpartum care.

We cover all of this and more in today's Rewire Weekly. (3/3)

Green paper textured graphic with "Stand with springfield" in a bold font. in the background is repeating text that says, "The people united will never be defeated. El pueblo unido jamas sera vencido"

Green graphic reading, "springfield actions & aid. Food, Basics, & general Support. Second Harvest Food Bank St. Vincent de Paul MAZU (Donation collection in Yellow Springs) Haitian Community Help & Support Center. Funds to support. Detained Immigrants Commissary Fund (by OIA) Springfield Unity Fund. organizing + action Hubs: Miami Valley Immigrant Coalition (MVIC) Springfield G92 Gem City Action (Dayton-based). Documentation, Rights, & Legal: Ohio Immigrant Hotline (via Ohio Immigrant Alliance) Ohio National Lawyers Guild (NLG) Advocates for Basic Legal Equality (ABLE). upcoming events. 2/2: Here We Stand: Faith Leaders for Immigration Justice & Family Unit (In-person & virtual) Register by 1/31. 2/21: MVIC Community Mobilization Event: What Just Happened (2025)? What now (2026)? Register by 2/18. Context, additional resources, and links at www.abortionfundofohio.org/springfield."

Thousands of Haitian immigrants living in Springfield, OH, are set to lose temporary protected status 2/3. Locals are expecting a 30-day increase in immigration enforcement starting 2/4.

AFO & @ohwomenalliance.bsky.social collected supports here: abortionfundofohio.org/springfield/

Post-Dobbs, when pregnancy loss is increasingly treated as a suspicious event, these laws are being used to target women who experience pregnancy loss or self-manage their abortions.

Explore your state laws: www.pregnancyjusticeus.org/legal-landsc...

Read our new report, “After Pregnancy Loss” at pregnancyjusticeus.org. Image: U.S. Map with the title, "How do state laws and policies address the aftermath of pregnancy loss?" Each state is categorized as punitive, ambiguous, neutral, or protective depending on its laws, and shaded accordingly in the map legend.

Almost every action after pregnancy loss has come under scrutiny. Many of these laws, like the crime of “concealing a birth,” date back to the 1600s, used to criminalize unwed women who were thought to be more likely to hide & end their pregnancies, fearing intense societal shame and repercussions.

NEW REPORT📣 Across the country, people have been arrested & charged after pregnancy loss, whether they miscarry at home on a toilet, bury the remains, or bring remains to a hospital.

Our report, “After Pregnancy Loss,” looks at what state laws have to say: www.pregnancyjusticeus.org/wp-content/u...

Five-year-old deported to Honduras despite being US citizen is latest child victim of Trump crackdown Mother whose visa application was pending says she will send girl back to US soon accompanied by another relative

ICE deported a 5-year-old US citizen to Honduras, where she had never been, after holding her & her mother in a hotel room 80 miles from home for several days and not allowing them access to a lawyer www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

You deserve to be able to make that choice for yourself.

Reproductive freedom includes both the right to parent and the right not to parent. In a brief we filed before the Maryland Supreme Court, we argue that the state's child welfare agency violated a woman's fundamental rights under the Maryland Constitution, including her right not to parent, because the state found she neglected her newborns by legally surrendering them. The right to not raise a child is fundamental to a person's liberty and dignity. Image of 3 pages of the brief fanned out.

Mrs. C gave birth to healthy twins and surrendered them under Maryland’s Safe Haven Act, which lets parents surrender unharmed newborns without fear of prosecution, ensuring they receive care. She hoped a family member might adopt them, as she was in an abusive relationship and already caring for two other children. When that became unlikely, Mrs. C changed her mind and asked to have her children back. The law allows this. Still, the family court held a hearing and found she neglected her twins by legally surrendering them. Alongside other organizations, we argued that Maryland's Constitution protects the right not to parent, whether through contraception, abortion, adoption, or surrender. Articles 48 and 45 establish Reproductive Freedom and protect rights that belong to the people, even if they aren’t specifically detailed.

Reproductive freedom includes both the right to parent AND not to parent.

We filed a brief before the Maryland Supreme Court with The Lawyering Project to protect Mrs. C’s fundamental rights.

The loss of Roe reshaped abortion access across the country, but it didn’t end our fight. This anniversary is a call to keep building a future rooted in dignity, care, and justice for all.

Pregnant Immigrants and Their Babies May Suffer Complications from Chronic Stress of ICE Raids, Experts Warn At least two doctors say they're already seeing warning signs in patients, including high blood pressure and deteriorating mental health.

ICE is a reproductive justice problem. Experts warn that pregnant immigrants and their babies may suffer complications from chronic stress of ICE raids. At least two doctors say they're already seeing warning signs in patients, like high blood pressure & deteriorating mental health.

@progressflorida.org @floridawatch.bsky.social @ppflaction.bsky.social

CS/HB 289: Civil Liability for the Wrongful Death of an Unborn Child. Florida House Bill 289 & Senate Bill 164 attempt to give fertilized eggs, embryos, and fetuses the same rights as living people. The “Abusers’ Bill of Rights” allows anyone who impregnates someone else to sue if that pregnancy is not carried to term. It’s not about seeking justice. It’s about making reproductive healthcare harder to access: emergency care, abortion, and IVF. The bill is a direct threat to the life, safety, and dignity of pregnant people. Help stop it now! bit.ly/stopsb164

DON’T FALL FOR IT. This bill is not about seeking justice for a pregnancy loss due to someone else’s violence. Florida law already does that. It's about limiting access to reproductive healthcare.

You can help stop SB164! Contact your elected official: actionnetwork.org/letters/tell...

Pregnancy shouldn't be a death sentence, and North Carolina mother Ciji Graham should be here today with her toddler. She shouldn't have been made to spend her final days searching for someone to save her life. 💔

🚨Today, South Carolina lawmakers heard H.4760, which would treat abortion pills like controlled substances and passed out of committee, and H.3537, defining a fertilized egg as a person and treating abortion as homicide. What you can do:

🗣️Call 803-734-3120
📝Get involved > www.scwren.org/act-now/

Native Americans are dying from pregnancy. They want a voice to stop the trend. Native Americans have been working with state and federal officials to better track and address pregnancy-related deaths.

Native organizations, the Centers for Disease Control, and some states are working to boost tribal participation in state maternal mortality review committees to better track and address pregnancy-related deaths in their communities.

From @kffhealthnews.org:

🚨 New resource! Free the Pill + NHeLP launched a toolkit to help states advance full OTC contraceptive coverage—no prescription, no cost-sharing. Learn why it matters & how to get involved: https://healthlaw.org/resource/coverage-of-over-the-counter-contraception-model-legislation-and-toolkit/

They Couldn’t Access Mental Health Care When They Needed It. Now They’re Suing Their Insurer. A new lawsuit alleges that an insurer’s ghost network hindered New York City employees from accessing the mental health care they sought — and harmed the reputation of psychiatrists wrongly listed as ...

NEW: A teacher called over a dozen therapists to find mental health care following a miscarriage.

An EMT spent months looking for one after a suicide attempt.

They couldn’t find any in-network provider able to see them. Now they're suing their insurer.