Stop Pregnancy Criminalization in California (AB 2223)

Reproductive freedom is under attack, and California is no exception. While other states ban abortions, reactionary groups in California are trying to prosecute pregnancy loss. Pregnancy criminalization is a rising threat – in the past several years, two women in the Central Valley were charged with murder after they had stillbirths. And there have been approximately 1,300 cases across the country from 2006 to 2020.

AB 2223 would help ensure that no person in our state is ever investigated, prosecuted, or imprisoned for losing or ending their pregnancy. AB 2223 protects reproductive freedom by clarifying that the Reproductive Privacy Act prohibits pregnancy criminalization, removes outdated provisions requiring coroners to investigate certain pregnancy losses, and ensures that information collected about pregnancy outcomes is not used to target people through criminal or civil legal systems.

Every person, no matter where they live or what they look like, should have the right to control their body and their future. AB 2223 would protect this right by shielding people from pregnancy criminalization.

Bill author: Assemblymember Buffy Wicks

Co-sponsors:
ACCESS Reproductive Justice
ACLU California Action
Black Women for Wellness Action Project
If/When/ How
NARAL Pro-Choice California
Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California

Learn more: Imprisoned for a Stillbirth: Pregnancy Criminalization, California, and the Future of Abortion