A new report from a reproductive rights organization finds that pregnancy-related prosecutions are at an all-time high in the wake of the 2022 Supreme Court decision that ended the nationwide right to abortion. And by far the most common criminal allegation facing pregnant people is that they used marijuana or other drugs during their pregnancies.
Some women are even being prosecuted for medical cannabis use as registered patients under state law.
The report, from the group Pregnancy Justice, identified 210 criminal cases filed against people for conduct associated with pregnancy, pregnancy loss or birth during the first year after high court’s Dobbs ruling, which overturned Roe v. Wade. Of those, 203 cases—nearly 97 percent—involved allegations of substance use during pregnancy. Drug use was the sole allegation in 133 of those cases.
Marijuana was the second most commonly cited drug in the court charges, following methamphetamines, with allegations of cannabis use appearing in 86 of the 210 cases. In more than a third of those cases, THC use was the only allegation underlying the criminal charges.
“It is significant that, in eighty-six cases, the police or prosecution alleged that the defendant took some form of THC during her pregnancy, and in
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