The mask has officially slipped. For decades, the anti-choice movement tried to assure the public that their crusade was not about punishing pregnant people, claiming they only wanted to target doctors. But now, in the wake of the devastating Dobbs decision, a terrifying new consensus is building on the political right: the demand to criminally prosecute and incarcerate women who get abortions. This extreme pivot is born out of sheer frustration that their authoritarian state-level bans have utterly failed to stop people from exercising their basic human rights.

Despite the Supreme Court’s conservative majority overturning Roe v. Wade in 2022, recent data from reproductive health researchers has confirmed a bitter truth for the far-right: abortion numbers have actually increased nationwide. Thanks to resilient mutual aid networks, interstate travel, and the rise of telehealth and mail-order medication, pregnant people are finding ways to bypass state-level restrictions. Instead of accepting this reality, right-wing extremists are doubling down on state coercion, arguing that the only way to truly stop abortions is to put handcuffs on the patients themselves.

This terrifying shift exposes the hypocrisy of the traditional "pro-life" movement, which historically claimed that women were "second victims" who should not face legal penalties. That paternalistic rhetoric is being rapidly discarded by a radicalized grassroots base and far-right legislators. These groups are pushing a dangerous "fetal personhood" agenda that aims to classify abortion as homicide, which would subject anyone who terminates a pregnancy to life in prison or even the death penalty.

We are already seeing this nightmare scenario play out in state houses across the country. In states like Louisiana, Texas, and Alabama, Republican lawmakers have introduced bills designed to subject people who self-manage their abortions to criminal prosecution. While some moderate Republicans have hesitated out of fear of electoral destruction, the ideological momentum on the right is clearly shifting toward total criminalization. This is no longer a fringe theory; it is a rapidly growing policy objective of the conservative movement.

Crucially, the threat of prosecution will not fall equally. As with all aspects of the American carceral state, the criminalization of abortion will disproportionately target low-income people, Black and brown communities, and those living in rural areas. Wealthy individuals will always have the resources to travel to states where abortion remains legal, or to hire high-priced legal defense if they are investigated. Meanwhile, marginalized people who rely on self-managed medication abortions will face intense state surveillance, police scrutiny, and the threat of long prison sentences.

Furthermore, medical professionals warn that this push will have a chilling effect on all obstetric care. In a world where a miscarriage can be treated as a suspected crime scene, pregnant people will be terrified to seek emergency medical attention for pregnancy complications. Doctors, fearing they could be accused of aiding a crime, may refuse to provide standard care, leading to a spike in maternal mortality rates that are already unacceptably high in red states.

The push to prosecute pregnant people reveals the true, punitive heart of the anti-abortion movement. It was never about protecting life; it was always about control, surveillance, and reinforcing a patriarchal social order. As the right-wing crusade enters this dangerous new phase, the struggle for bodily autonomy is more urgent than ever.

Sources: * Supreme Court of the United States, Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, No. 19-1392 (2022) * Society of Family Planning, #WeCount National Report (2024) * Guttmacher Institute, Monthly Abortion Provision Study (2024)