Laws that would make abortion homicide in nine US states
BMJ 2025; 388 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.r481 (Published 13 March 2025) Cite this as: BMJ 2025;388:r481
- Rebecca B Reingold, associate director1,
- Lauren Karpinski, research assistant1,
- Paulina Macías Ortega, research assistant1,
- Laura Dragnic Tohá, research assistant1
- 1O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law, Georgetown University, Washington, DC, USA
- Correspondence to: R B Reingold Rebecca.Reingold@law.georgetown.edu
Lawmakers in at least nine US states—Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Texas—have introduced bills this year that seek to classify abortion as homicide. Under proposed legislation, anyone seeking an abortion could be subject to murder or manslaughter charges or wrongful death suits. The bills would amend state laws to classify destruction of a zygote, embryo, or fetus from the moment of fertilisation as homicide. Eight of these states—all but North Dakota—have the death penalty for homicide.1
All nine bills would threaten pregnant women with homicide charges for seeking or carrying out an abortion.2345678910Five would also allow for civil lawsuits for wrongful death, potentially encouraging family members to sue those having abortions for damages.35689 Each bill includes exceptions when abortion is necessary to save the pregnant woman’s life—as long as the medical …
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