Raw Story

Women are increasingly being charged with pregnancy-related crimes since the U.S. Supreme Court's 2022 decision overturning Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 ruling that had found a constitutional right to abortion. Abortion bans are playing a role.

A new study, "Pregnancy As a Crime: A Preliminary Report on the First Year After Dobbs," found 210 cases of pregnancy-related crimes were charged in the first year since the Dobbs decision, the Supreme Court ruling that rescinded the constitutional right to abortion. That is the largest number of cases in any 12-month period since the year Roe v. Wade was decided.

"Most of the cases identified were in just two states: Alabama and Oklahoma," according to the Associated Press. Essentially half of all cases (104) were charged in just one state: Alabama. Oklahoma ranked second with 68.

"Wendy Bach, a professor at the University of Tennessee College of Law and one of the lead researchers on the project, said one of the cases was when a woman delivered a stillborn baby at her home about six or seven months into pregnancy," the AP reports. "Bach said that when the woman went to make funeral arrangements, the funeral home alerted authorities and the woman was charged with homicide."

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Mary Ruth Ziegler, a legal historian focusing on abortion at University of California Davis School of Law, told CNN, “Prosecutions of pregnant women for conduct during pregnancy didn’t start with the anti-abortion movement, but they definitely accelerated with the anti-abortion movement.”

Lourdes Rivera, president of Pregnancy Justice, the nonprofit organization that released the study, told the AP, “It’s an environment where pregnancy loss is potentially criminally suspect.”

Rivera, speaking to Jezebel, "said the report’s findings reflect how 'post-Dobbs, abortion bans have created a chilling effect, an environment for law enforcement to misapply existing criminal laws and the ideology of fetal personhood' to wrongly criminalize a range of legal behaviors from pregnant people."

Earlier this year the Republican National Committee released its first new platform in eight years. Some media reports claimed it was "softening" on abortion, and some far-right activists blasted the RNC for that stance. But the new platform included language paving the way for what some call fetal personhood, the belief that human life begins at conception and therefore a fertilized egg is immediately conferred the same civil rights as every other person in America.

CNN reports fetal personhood "is at the root of many of the allegations" examined in the Pregnancy Justice report.

“The goal was not just to have these individual people go to prison, it was meant to set a precedent about what fetal rights look like,” Ziegler said. “So going for the easiest target made sense.”

CNN adds that "the data from June 2022 to June 2023 shows that the vast majority of pregnancy-related charges alleged substance use during pregnancy, according to the new report from Pregnancy Justice. In more than half of the cases, substance use was the only allegation made against the defendant."

The vast majority of the defendants were low income, and proof that the fetus was actually harmed was not required for most of the 210 charges.

"About half of cases were in Alabama, where residents voted in 2018 to amend the Constitution to include protections for unborn life and where the state Supreme Court ruled in February that frozen embryos are children and those who destroy them can be held liable for wrongful death," CNN noted.

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“The People of Alabama have declared the public policy of this State to be that unborn human life is sacred,” Chief Justice Tom Parker wrote in his concurring opinion earlier this year. “We believe that each human being, from the moment of conception, is made in the image of God, created by Him to reflect His likeness.”

Pregnancy Justice on social media explained that after the Dobbs decision, "State actors are emboldened, putting pregnant people under INCREASED surveillance and making a dire situation even worse."

Dr. Norman Ornstein, a political scientist, senior fellow emeritus at the American Enterprise Institute, and contributing editor for the Atlantic weighed in on Alabama Public Radio's report from the Associated Press.

"Alabama. Elected Tommy Tuberville. Katie Britt. Kay Ivey. A Hellscape of racism and cruelty," Ornstein wrote, referring to the state's Republican freshmen U.S. Senators and longtime Republican governor.

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Mark Robinson, North Carolina's Republican nominee for governor, has reportedly retained a former attorney for Donald Trump to investigate "where and how" comments made on a pornographic website were connected to the candidate.

Robinson hired attorney Jesse Binnall, who worked for Trump's campaign in 2016, WUNC's Colin Campbell first reported Tuesday. The announcement comes following an explosive CNN report that an account linked to Robinson posted comments more than a decade ago on a porn site messaging board in which he defended slavery and called himself a "Black Nazi."

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Robinson said Binnall would "investigate where and how these false smears originated."

The candidate previously refused to allow tech experts to prove he did not make the online posts. He has also threatened to sue CNN.

Even MSNBC host Katy Tur couldn't understand what Donald Trump said during a Monday night rally in Pennsylvania.

"Now we have this stupid stuff where you can vote 45 days early," Trump told his rally attendees. "I wonder what the hell happens during that 45. Let’s move — see these votes? We’ve got about a million votes in there. Let’s move them. We’re fixing the air conditioner in the room, right?"

He continued: "No, it’s terrible. What happened the last time was disgraceful, including right here. But we’re not going to let it happen again. You know too big to rig, right? That’s one way you do it."

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After showing the clip, Tur confessed, "For the life of me, I don't know what he's talking about when he mentions air conditioning in that soundbite."

Trump urged his voters to cast their ballots early, then claimed that early voting is "a scam," Tur explained.

NBC News senior political editor Mark Murray told Tur that at least 51 percent of voters intend to cast ballots early either in person or by mail, according to the latest polls from their network.

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Attorney Gloria Allred revealed that she is filing a lawsuit against rapper Sean "Diddy" Combs from one of his accusers, who only recently learned there was a video of her alleged rape.

According to the filing posted by judicial reporter Meghann Cuniff, Thalia Graves is suing Combs along with his companies, alleging that Combs and bodyguard Joseph Sherman "viciously raped her at the Bad Boy Records studio in New York."

Cuniff was one of the employees at the studio and was "lure[d]" into a meeting with the two men, the lawsuit alleges. Once "sequestered," the men gave her "a drink, likely laced with a drug that eventually caused her briefly to lose consciousness." When she woke she was "bound and restrained."

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The filing says that the two men "brutally sexually abused and violated" her. Combs, in particular, "raped her, anally and vaginally" while Sherman "slapped her, and repeatedly thrust" himself "into her mouth."

The complaint explains that Graves was suicidal and has suffered anxiety, depression, panic attacks, and "lives in fear of the defendants."

It wasn't until Nov. 27, 2023, that she learned that Combs and Sherman videotaped the "horrific rape 22 years before and had shown the video to multiple men, seeking to publicly degrade and humiliate both Plaintiff and her boyfriend."

Combs has been federally indicted on charges of racketeering and sex trafficking. He denies the charges.

Read the full complaint here.

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Embattled gubernatorial candidate Mark Robinson reportedly suffered another blow on Sunday after a "mass resignation" of his staff.

Robinson has been under fire since a recent CNN report exposed purported comments the North Carolina GOP candidate allegedly made on a porn site many years ago. The report claimed that Robinson had identified himself as a "Black Nazi," as well as a "perv." Earlier Sunday, the North Carolina Republican Party incurred the wrath of conservative columnist Kathleen Parker for surprisingly continuing to back Robinson despite the avalanche of revelations.

Later in the day, Emmy-winning reporter Michael Hyland reported that Robinson's senior adviser, campaign manager, finance director, and deputy campaign manager "have all resigned."

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The campaign itself spun the resignation as "staff changes" that it was announcing.

“I appreciate the efforts of these team members who have made the difficult choice to step away from the campaign, and I wish them well in their future endeavors. I look forward to announcing new staff roles in the coming days,” the Robinson campaign news release said.

Aaron Fritschner, Virginia communications for Vice President Kamala Harris and a former Democratic House aide, said, "'Announces staff changes' to break a mass resignation is an all-timer press release header."

Democratic strategist Simon Rosenberg said in response, "North Carolina GOP is melting down."

Former Michigan Republican operative Jeff Timmer replied, "What a shame."

Donald Trump over the weekend boasted about meeting his foreign leader "friends" at Mar-a-Lago, but the ex-president's supporters didn't take it very well.

Trump took to his own social media network, Truth Social, on Sunday to thank multiple Middle Eastern leaders for meeting with him.

"It was great seeing my friends His Highness Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, Amir of Qatar and His Excellency Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani, Prime Minister of Qatar at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida," Trump wrote.

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He then continued, saying, "The Amir has proven to be a great and powerful leader of his country, advancing on all levels at record speed. He is someone also who strongly wants peace in the Middle East, and all over the world. We had a great relationship during my years in the White House, and it will be even stronger this time around!"

Hardcore MAGA fans didn't like Trump's "friends," especially as it relates to their purported connections to Israeli conflicts.

@DocReality, who frequently shares content supporting Trump and attacking Vice President Kamala Harris, asked the former president, "Since when are you friends with Islamist antisemites?"

@Cheslerde, who identifies as a "Constitutional Conservative" and has a plea to elect Trump in his Truth Social bio, wrote, "Come on President Trump."

"We luv ya, but I don't think the hostages and families are thrilled about Qatar hosting the Hamas and Hezbollah terrorist freaks!" the user then added.

@MarcRudov, who promotes Trump's claim that Harris is lying about once working at McDonald's many years ago, asked, "What about the whereabouts of Sinwar? The hostages in Gaza?"

@Cane1, who frequently defends Trump and attacks Harris in comments on Truth Social, appeared to be stunned.

"Qatar? Are funding and housing Hamas leaders, WTF are you doing," the user said, adding, "You can meet with the devil, but you don’t bargain with him in your home!"

@CJBlue, an Israel supporter who also defends Trump and attacks President Joe Biden, said, "If he's so great why does Qatar allow Hamas leaders to hide out in his country."

@CaseyGorsuch, who has a picture of Biden with a target on his forehead as a background photo, also chimed in:

"Hey Don. You should really start watching your mouth. It's going to cost you the presidency," the user wrote Sunday.