Fetal‑personhood penalizes pregnant women

State fetal‑personhood laws that give embryos and fetuses the same legal status as children are being enforced selectively: prosecutions and surveillance disproportionately target pregnant women (for alleged drug use or pregnancy‑related behaviors) while violent partners often escape equivalent legal consequences. The Alabama case — a rookie cop accused of causing his wife’s miscarriage while the law commonly subjects pregnant women to criminal scrutiny for substance use — illustrates how the law reshapes who is punished and who is protected. — This matters because it reframes reproductive‑rights debates as not only about abortion access but about criminal law, domestic‑violence accountability, and unequal policing of pregnancy.