June 30: A prosecutor, a doctor, and advocates host webinar on new resource
June 24, 2025 (U.S.) – Today, non-partisan legal defense and advocacy organization Pregnancy Justice and public health organization Vital Strategies announced the launch of an important, new resource to counter the harms of pregnancy-related prosecutions. This innovative toolkit, Interrupting Punitive Responses to Substance Use and Pregnancy, aims to transform how the criminal legal system responds to substance use during pregnancy, shifting from punishment toward approaches that are grounded in public health and community well-being.
There have been over 2,000 instances of pregnancy-related prosecutions from 1973 to 2023, and the trend is accelerating. In the first year after the Dobbs decision, Pregnancy Justice identified at least 210 cases. This most recent data shows that the overwhelming majority (9 out of 10 cases) involve allegations of substance use. “Pregnancy criminalization” — which refers to arrest, prosecution, or imprisonment based on allegations related to pregnancy, pregnancy loss, or birth, as well as the application of harsher penalties based on someone’s pregnancy — disproportionately impacts poor people and people of color.
At the same time, overdose has become a leading cause of death during or shortly after pregnancy.Among pregnant and postpartum people, drug overdose mortality increased by approximately 81 percent from 2017 to 2020. Rather than addressing this problem, criminalizing substance use in pregnancy actually worsens outcomes because it drives people away from essential prenatal care and other supportive services. Incarceration poses further negative health impacts, with many facilities denying adequate access to medications for opioid use disorder and failing to offer high quality pregnancy and postpartum care.
“If our shared goal is to support children, mothers, and communities as a whole, then we should be relying on the decades of research that clearly shows criminalizing women for their pregnancy outcomes has never been, nor will ever be, the solution,” said Pregnancy Justice Senior Vice President Dana Sussman. “We’re asking members of the criminal legal system to challenge beliefs that may be long held, to take a stand against punitive responses, and to support interventions that will truly make a difference in helping pregnant women receive the care they need.”
Criminalizing pregnancy outcomes is not only bad policy, it’s also deeply unpopular among the general public who see this as a public health issue. In addition, every leading medical and public health organization discourages the criminalization of pregnant outcomes because it harms the physician-patient relationship and doctors’ ability to provide care.
“For far too long, stigmatizing stereotypes and kneejerk assumptions have driven harmful responses to substance use in pregnancy,” said Kate Boulton, Senior Legal Technical Advisor at Vital Strategies. “We hope this new tool can guide the criminal legal system away from the failed approaches of the past toward strategies that center the health and autonomy of pregnant people who use drugs.”
Interrupting Punitive Responses to Substance Use and Pregnancy is accompanied by a series of videos and a webinar on June 30, 2025, at 1 p.m. ET. The videos spotlight insights from the perspective of a medical doctor, a prosecutor, and a woman with lived experience to underscore the life-saving benefits of a health-centered approach to substance use and pregnancy.
Stakeholders interested in joining the webinar can register here. Presenters will include:
- Moderator – Kate Boulton, JD, MPH, Senior Legal Technical Advisor at Vital Strategies
- Dana Sussman, JD, MPH, Senior Vice President at Pregnancy Justice
- Dr. Jamila Perritt, President and CEO of Physicians for Reproductive Health, board-certified in obstetrics and gynecology
- Najja Morris-Frazier, Director of LEAD Support Bureau
- Kim Foxx, Cook County State’s Attorney (former)
Media Contact:
Pregnancy Justice: media@pregnancyjusticeus.org
Tony Newman: tnewman@vitalstrategies.org: 646-335-5384
About Pregnancy Justice
Pregnancy Justiceis a non-partisan legal organization that advances and defends the rights of pregnant people, no matter if they give birth, experience a pregnancy loss, or have an abortion, focusing on those most likely to be targeted for investigation, arrest, detention, or family separation: poor people, people of color, and people who use drugs. Pregnancy Justice advances its mission in four ways: by providing criminal defense, advocating for legal and policy change, publishing cutting-edge research, and equipping partners in the field with analysis, training, and narrative framing.
About Vital Strategies
Vital Strategies is a global health organization that believes every person should be protected by a strong public health system. Our overdose prevention program works to strengthen and scale evidence-based, data-driven policies and interventions to create equitable and sustainable reductions in overdose deaths in several U.S. states and local jurisdictions.
Learn more at https://www.vitalstrategies.org/programs/overdose-prevention/