I wanna show you guys something:
This is a chart tracking
documented ex3cut!ons
of women between 1632 to 1962.
Obviously, the real number,
as with all ex3cut!ons, is much higher.
Many state-sanctioned ☠️
and lynch!ng$ of Black people,
for example, were never recorded.
Total number of documented ex3cut!ons:
356.
The oldest woman, 71.
Youngest girl, 12.
55% were Black,
36% were yt,
and so on.
Note the alleged cr!m3s
these women were ex3cut3d for—
“Concealing birth”
What could that be?
Statutes punishing the “concealment of birth”
and ☠️ date back to 1696,
when the colonies passed these statutes
to punish women who gave birth out of wedlock.
Their primary purpose for passing these statutes
was to punish unmarried women
who had pr3marital s*x.
They said this over and over again.
But if we look at the text of these statutes,
it's also obvious 🙃
The statutes themselves refer to
“lewd” and “dissolute” women
and their “shame”
Notably, the statute only applies to *unmarried* women,
NOT married women or,
of course, men.
Punishment for concealing a birth was ☠️.
And at least 5 women in the United States
were ☠️ under these laws,
the last being in 1785.
Would you believe me if I told you that today
prosecutors are misusing these *same* exact statutes
as they are written
to prosecute women who experience stillbirth,
miscarriages,
or other pregnancy loss?
These laws do not specify whether or how
or when a woman should report these losses
or who to even report to.
These laws also don't mention
how developed the f3tus must be
for the statutes to be triggered.
Not to mention, these laws continue to rely on
misguided assumptions about women,
specifically women who have s*x.
The Rhode Island statute, for instance,
enacted in 1938,
only applies to concealing the birth of a child
“born out of wedlock”
Why?
These statutes rely entirely on the assumption
that a woman
who would have pr3marital s*x
would “obviously”…. m*rd*r their child.
In 2015, Annie Bynum took the remains
of her stillborn f3tus to a hospital in Arkansas
and was prosecuted under an archaic 17th century law
to “conceal a birth or a stillborn.”
How is she concealing it if she took it to the hospital?
So when she takes it to the hospital,
it's a cr!m3, but if she had it at home,
it's also a cr!m3?
Compliance is impossible when it's intended
to prosecute women.
A jury convicted and sentenced her to 6 years in pr!s0n.
Her conviction was overturned on appeal 3 years later.
In 2016, Catherine Dellis gave birth to a stillborn baby in her home.
She went to the doctor to receive necessary medical attention afterward,
only to be arr3st3d.
Autopsy showed the baby had ☠️
about 30 to 32 weeks into the pregnancy.
She was sentenced to 5 months in pr!s0n for
“concealing a ☠️ body”
by the fact that the f3tus had already ☠️ inside the womb.
Although the Virginia governor ultimately pardoned her,
an appellate court had already upheld her conviction
In another case,
after a woman in Ohio
experienced a m!scarr!age on the toilet,
unsure of what to do
with the product of her m!scarr!age,
she attempted to clean up the bathroom and flush the toilet,
an extremely common response when having a m!scarr!age⚠️
But when she sought medical care
following the pregnancy loss,
a nurse called the police and had her arr3sted.
She was charged with abuse of a ⚰️.
And it's only getting worse🚨‼️
Since Roe v. Wade was overturned in 2022,
more than 412 women
have been prosecuted after a birth, m!scarr!age,
ab**t**n,
or other pregnancy loss,
the HIGHEST it's been since we first began tracking that number in 1972,
But it's likely an undercount!!!
This number continues to rise.
Not only are these arr3sts and prosecutions horribly traumatic,
they come at an extremely high cost 💰
Most of the women who are prosecuted
under these statutes
are low income,
marginalized women
who don't have the resources to take care of it,
to hire an attorney,
to get these charges dismissed,
to even make bail.
If/When/How’s Repro Legal Defense Fund is a non-profit fund
that directly pays for these costs!!!
for people investigated or fighting charges for their ab**t**n,
stillbirth, or m!scarr!age in cr!minal,
This is what the fund directly covers!!!
Yes, directly!!!
If you donate to the Repro Legal Defense Fund,
you can be sure that your money is gonna go to the bail, bond,
home monitoring expenses, attorneys fees, transportation…
You can donate to the Repro Legal Defense Fund at the 🔗 in my b!0,
✨But first✨ listen to some of the cases that your donation,
small or large, *will* make a difference in.
Mind you, these four cases are just from Texas—
Case 1: A woman of color with a supportive partner experiences severe pain
and ultimately pregnancy loss.
She gets arr3sted for how she handles the remains
and ends up being charged with Texas Penal Code Section 37.09
tampering with evidence, human ⚰️,
second degree f31ony with a range of punishment
🚨2 to 20 years‼️
CPS opens a case for her four year old child.
Due to the cr!m!nal case, her bail gets set at $50,000,
which the Repro Legal Defense Fund pays.
Case 2: An indigenous woman of color and survivor
has ab***** after experiencing s***l v!013nce
and being f0rced to get pregnant by her ab*sive boyfriend,
who reports the ab***on.
She initially thinks the state is investigating her ab*sive partner,
but they go after her instead.
She is charged with handling the remains.
The Repro Legal Defense Fund provides support
by paying her local attorney's fees.
Case 3: An immigrant woman of color ends up charged with capital ☠️
and tampering with evidence
for a painful pregnancy loss in the toilet.
Our Repro Legal Defense Fund assists by paying attorney's fees.
Case 4—🚨This is all she did🚨:
for providing ab***on pills to her 17 year old daughter in need,
This woman of color and survivor
is charged with f310ny ab***on,
dr**s under section 1 78.004,
f310ny ass@ult on a pregnant person,
and k!dn@pping.
The person who called the 🚔 on her is her ab***ve ex-husband.
Due to these allegations,
a family defense case is open for her other younger children.
A $500,000 bail is set…
…and the Repro Legal Defense Fund pays it,
along with covering the cost of the cr!m!nal and family defense. ❤️‍🩹
Donating even a ✨single✨ dollar to the Repro Legal Defense Fund
at the 🔗 in my b!0 will *directly* help these people.
Every single case counts.
Please support these bail funds.
As prosecutions and arr3sts get higher,
more rampant, more aggressive,
and discriminatory beyond measure,
The Repro Legal Defense Fund is on the front lines giving these people,
these women who are being prosecuted,
exactly what they need.
And if you believe you or someone you know
would need the resources that Repro Legal Defense Fund provides,
you can apply at the 🔗 in my b!0 as well.