Pregnancy Prosecution Tracking Study

The Sissy Farenthold Reproductive Justice Defense Project participates in a collaborative nationwide prosecution tracking project in partnership with Pregnancy Justice (formerly National Advocates for Pregnant Women), the University of Tennessee at Knoxville College of Law, and other law schools.

The tracking study researches prosecutions after Dobbs by gathering publicly available documents and data concerning prosecutions involving pregnancy and pregnancy-related outcomes in the U.S. filed between June 24, 2022 and June 23, 2025.

We are looking for cases in the following categories:

• The initiation of any criminal prosecution and a set of factual allegations about events that happened during or concerning a pregnancy or pregnancy outcome, and in which these allegations are alleged to meet an element of the criminal offense. Such prosecutions could be brought against either the pregnant person or another individual.

• Cases where the State imposes harsher and/or different penalties (e.g., parole or probation revocation, sentence enhancement, or modification to pretrial release conditions) on a person because the person is pregnant, even if the precipitating arrest is not associated with pregnancy. For example, a court revokes a person’s probation or bond because the person is pregnant.

If you know of an instance that may meet these criteria, or become aware of one in the future, please fill out the survey at https://trackingpregnancyprosecutions.org/. This link also provides information about confidentiality and IRB approval for the study.

If you are an attorney handling a criminal or related case, we can connect you with resources to aid in the defense of your client. Please contact us at reproductivejustice@law.utexas.edu.