Media Contact: eme@stateinnovation.org
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, State Innovation Exchange (SiX), the O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health, and Legal Voice released Rejection of Prenatal Personhood: a first-of-its-kind, comparative report that shows how decision-makers and advocates from across the globe have countered the anti-abortion movement’s efforts to expand legal rights for prenatal life.
In the aftermath of the Dobbs decision, prenatal personhood has quickly become a foundational piece of laws and policies attacking abortion care, threatening the health and lives of women, girls, and pregnant people. As such, this report provides a comprehensive overview of efforts to establish legal personhood for prenatal life in the U.S. and globally. Advocates and decision-makers in other countries have successfully relied on innovative arguments to push back against similar attacks, even within restrictive legal environments.
According to the new report: “Nearly every high court that has ruled on the constitutionality of an abortion law has concluded that granting full legal personhood to prenatal life results in violations of pregnant people's rights — whether those afforded by national constitutions or international human rights treaties, or both.”
The report also compiles and analyzes how decision-makers in various countries, as well as international human rights bodies, have pushed back against the concept of prenatal personhood. The goal of the report is to provide U.S.-based decision-makers and advocates with proven arguments to fight back against the rise of prenatal personhood.
“State legislators are movement builders. When they are connected to global movements they gain access to new strategies, mutual support, and a deeper sense of shared purpose," said Fran Linkin, Senior Director of Research, Reproductive Freedom & Health Equity at SiX. "As state advocates and legislators lead the way in countering prenatal personhood efforts across the United States this report lets them know they are not alone and they can succeed.”
“There’s a reason that most courts around the world have rejected prenatal personhood: it leads to absurd and dangerous applications of the law,” said Wendy Heipt, Senior Litigation Counsel at Legal Voice. “If a legal person exists every time a sperm and an egg meet, there’s no end to what the state can mandate a pregnant person can and cannot do.”
“In the face of a prenatal personhood movement that is increasingly global in nature, now is the time to look to the experiences of other countries for inspiration and solidarity,” said Rebecca Reingold, Associate Director at the O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law. “We hope that this report serves as a valuable resource for state decision-makers, advocates, researchers, and affected communities working to counter efforts to advance prenatal personhood in the United States.”
Rejection of Prenatal Personhood is the fifth report in the Beyond Borders report series. The other reports included in the series are:
Regulation of Religious Refusals for Abortion Care
Critiques of Abortion Criminalization
Regulation of Abortion Decision-Making Among Young People
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State Innovation Exchange (SiX) empowers, emboldens and equips state legislators to build and wield progressive governing power by/with/for the people they represent. SiX does this by providing legislators with the tools needed to shape impactful public policy and building their capacity to lead with their constituents. SiX fosters long-term collaboration between legislators – across chambers, across regions, and across state lines – and with grassroots movements.
The O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law, housed at Georgetown University Law Center, is a leading health policy think tank dedicated to using law to address pressing health challenges and shape a healthier, more just world. Established in 2007, the O’Neill Institute partners with governments, international organizations, civil society groups, and academic institutions to end pandemics, ensure human rights, and build the right to health around the world.
Legal Voice is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that fights for gender justice. Founded in 1978, it drives systemic change across the Northwest through impact litigation, policy advocacy, education, and coalition building.
Beyond Borders was supported in part by a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The views expressed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the Foundation.
