4 ms·

Are we assuming the lack of a recorded period is the criteria? If yes, what if you just forgot to add it that month, or have hormonal issues, or abnormal BMI?

pavel_lishin 5mo ago
You're welcome to suggest to your lawyer this particular defense. The people prosecuting women for abortions aren't looking for reasons not to arrest and prosecute them.
- joe_mamba 5mo ago
  >The people prosecuting women for abortions aren't looking for reasons not to arrest and prosecute them. Who are these people doing this?
  - deleted 5mo ago
    [deleted]
  - intrinsicallee 5mo ago
    https://www.cbsnews.com/news/georgia-woman-charged-murder-abortion-pills/ https://www.cbsnews.com/news/georgia-woman-charged-murder-ab... https://www.newsweek.com/texas-gop-meeting-death-penalty-women-abortions-1884950 https://www.newsweek.com/texas-gop-meeting-death-penalty-wom... https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/sep/30/pregnancy-us-women-crimes-study https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/sep/30/pregnancy-us... https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/after-overturn-of-roe-more-women-face-prosecution-for-what-they-do-while-pregnant https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/after-overturn-of-roe-more... "Abstract When Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health first overturned long-standing precedent protecting a woman's fundamental right to abortion, pro-choice leaders issued warnings about the possibility of prosecuting women for abortions. These concerns were dismissed as hysterical or as political theatrics because, in the past, women were rarely prosecuted for their own abortions. This note analyzes the history of illegal abortion before the Supreme Court’s ruling in Roe v. Wade to demonstrate that women were targeted, used as leverage against abortion providers, and sometimes arrested for their roles in the procedure." https://scholarship.law.slu.edu/lj/vol69/iss4/11/ https://scholarship.law.slu.edu/lj/vol69/iss4/11/
  - Tangurena2 5mo ago
    Texas & West Virginia is one of those states that prosecute women for having miscarriages. Texas offers a $10k bounty for turning in any woman who leaves the state and somehow returns without that pregnancy. > Nationally, about 20% of pregnancies end in a loss, which includes miscarriage or spontaneous abortion, ectopic pregnancy, stillbirth or fetal death, according to federal data. Only a small number are investigated as crimes. But advocates say the growing number of laws in some states place people’s actions following pregnancy loss under greater scrutiny from law enforcement. > Women in South Carolina, Georgia, Ohio, Arkansas, Texas, Mississippi, Oklahoma and several other states have faced criminal charges after a miscarriage or stillbirth for failing to seek immediate medical treatment, not pursuing prenatal care or disposing of the fetal remains in a way that law enforcement or prosecutors considered improper. https://www.themarshallproject.org/2024/10/31/stillbirth-oklahoma-arkansas-women-investigated https://www.themarshallproject.org/2024/10/31/stillbirth-okl... Many states prosecute black women who miscarry and one of their claims is that the woman took some (illegal - allegedly) drug that caused the miscarriage. > In the year after the U.S. Supreme Court dismantled the constitutional right to abortion in June 2022, more than 200 pregnant women faced criminal charges for conduct associated with their pregnancy, pregnancy loss or birth, according to a new report. https://missouriindependent.com/2024/10/01/200-women-faced-criminal-charges-over-pregnancy-in-year-after-dobbs-report-finds/ https://missouriindependent.com/2024/10/01/200-women-faced-c...
  - triceratops 5mo ago
    If there aren't people doing this why is it illegal?
cogman10 5mo ago
Lots of reasons why you would miss a period that aren't pregnancy related. But that's not the point. Missing a period opens you up to further scrutiny and investigation by the state. Now they will start seeing if you've made out of town trips or perhaps subpoena your chat log to see what you've said to friends and family. It's not enough to prosecute, it is enough to start an investigation.
- Muromec 5mo ago
  It's scary and all, but does it actually happen?
  - cogman10 5mo ago
    Does what actually happen? Prosecutions for abortions? Yes. Warrants related to people getting an abortion? Yes. A period tracker being used as the jump off point for those prosecutions/investigations? Hard to say, maybe? If the data is being sold it isn't hard to imagine that prosecutors and busybodies aren't currently mining that data.
    - Chris2048 5mo ago
      > isn't hard to imagine that prosecutors mainly because I have no idea whether it's realistic to imagine what prosecutors do. I can also easily imagine it to be illegal and wildly unrealistic behaviour for a prosecutor, in my ignorance. > Warrants related to people getting an abortion? The question here isn't whether abortion is illegal in some states, but about period tracking data could be used as evidence, or justify an investigation - especially data that is seemingly illegally obtained. AFAIK, illegally obtained evidence is normally not valid grounds for investigation, and might actually weaken the case based on "fruit of the poisonous tree" doctrine.
      - cogman10 5mo ago
        > I can also easily imagine it to be illegal and wildly unrealistic behaviour for a prosecutor It's not [1]. There's no safeguards on information available for purchase like this. The US has very little in the way of digital privacy laws. > especially data that is seemingly illegally obtained. That's the thing, it's not illegal to sell private data. It's not illegal for prosecutors and cops to buy private data. It definitely feels like it should be, so I get why you'd think that. Feels aren't the legal code. [1] https://www.npr.org/2026/03/25/nx-s1-5752369/ice-surveillance-data-brokers-congress-anthropic https://www.npr.org/2026/03/25/nx-s1-5752369/ice-surveillanc...
triceratops 5mo ago
https://www.haslettlaw.com/blog/2013/november/-you-may-beat-the-rap-but-you-cant-beat-the-ride/ https://www.haslettlaw.com/blog/2013/november/-you-may-beat-...

pavel_lishin 5mo ago

You're welcome to suggest to your lawyer this particular defense. The people prosecuting women for abortions aren't looking for reasons not to arrest and prosecute them.

joe_mamba 5mo ago
>The people prosecuting women for abortions aren't looking for reasons not to arrest and prosecute them. Who are these people doing this?
- deleted 5mo ago
  [deleted]
- intrinsicallee 5mo ago
  https://www.cbsnews.com/news/georgia-woman-charged-murder-abortion-pills/ https://www.cbsnews.com/news/georgia-woman-charged-murder-ab... https://www.newsweek.com/texas-gop-meeting-death-penalty-women-abortions-1884950 https://www.newsweek.com/texas-gop-meeting-death-penalty-wom... https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/sep/30/pregnancy-us-women-crimes-study https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/sep/30/pregnancy-us... https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/after-overturn-of-roe-more-women-face-prosecution-for-what-they-do-while-pregnant https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/after-overturn-of-roe-more... "Abstract When Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health first overturned long-standing precedent protecting a woman's fundamental right to abortion, pro-choice leaders issued warnings about the possibility of prosecuting women for abortions. These concerns were dismissed as hysterical or as political theatrics because, in the past, women were rarely prosecuted for their own abortions. This note analyzes the history of illegal abortion before the Supreme Court’s ruling in Roe v. Wade to demonstrate that women were targeted, used as leverage against abortion providers, and sometimes arrested for their roles in the procedure." https://scholarship.law.slu.edu/lj/vol69/iss4/11/ https://scholarship.law.slu.edu/lj/vol69/iss4/11/
- Tangurena2 5mo ago
  Texas & West Virginia is one of those states that prosecute women for having miscarriages. Texas offers a $10k bounty for turning in any woman who leaves the state and somehow returns without that pregnancy. > Nationally, about 20% of pregnancies end in a loss, which includes miscarriage or spontaneous abortion, ectopic pregnancy, stillbirth or fetal death, according to federal data. Only a small number are investigated as crimes. But advocates say the growing number of laws in some states place people’s actions following pregnancy loss under greater scrutiny from law enforcement. > Women in South Carolina, Georgia, Ohio, Arkansas, Texas, Mississippi, Oklahoma and several other states have faced criminal charges after a miscarriage or stillbirth for failing to seek immediate medical treatment, not pursuing prenatal care or disposing of the fetal remains in a way that law enforcement or prosecutors considered improper. https://www.themarshallproject.org/2024/10/31/stillbirth-oklahoma-arkansas-women-investigated https://www.themarshallproject.org/2024/10/31/stillbirth-okl... Many states prosecute black women who miscarry and one of their claims is that the woman took some (illegal - allegedly) drug that caused the miscarriage. > In the year after the U.S. Supreme Court dismantled the constitutional right to abortion in June 2022, more than 200 pregnant women faced criminal charges for conduct associated with their pregnancy, pregnancy loss or birth, according to a new report. https://missouriindependent.com/2024/10/01/200-women-faced-criminal-charges-over-pregnancy-in-year-after-dobbs-report-finds/ https://missouriindependent.com/2024/10/01/200-women-faced-c...
- triceratops 5mo ago
  If there aren't people doing this why is it illegal?

cogman10 5mo ago

Lots of reasons why you would miss a period that aren't pregnancy related. But that's not the point. Missing a period opens you up to further scrutiny and investigation by the state. Now they will start seeing if you've made out of town trips or perhaps subpoena your chat log to see what you've said to friends and family. It's not enough to prosecute, it is enough to start an investigation.

Muromec 5mo ago
It's scary and all, but does it actually happen?
- cogman10 5mo ago
  Does what actually happen? Prosecutions for abortions? Yes. Warrants related to people getting an abortion? Yes. A period tracker being used as the jump off point for those prosecutions/investigations? Hard to say, maybe? If the data is being sold it isn't hard to imagine that prosecutors and busybodies aren't currently mining that data.
  - Chris2048 5mo ago
    > isn't hard to imagine that prosecutors mainly because I have no idea whether it's realistic to imagine what prosecutors do. I can also easily imagine it to be illegal and wildly unrealistic behaviour for a prosecutor, in my ignorance. > Warrants related to people getting an abortion? The question here isn't whether abortion is illegal in some states, but about period tracking data could be used as evidence, or justify an investigation - especially data that is seemingly illegally obtained. AFAIK, illegally obtained evidence is normally not valid grounds for investigation, and might actually weaken the case based on "fruit of the poisonous tree" doctrine.
    - cogman10 5mo ago
      > I can also easily imagine it to be illegal and wildly unrealistic behaviour for a prosecutor It's not [1]. There's no safeguards on information available for purchase like this. The US has very little in the way of digital privacy laws. > especially data that is seemingly illegally obtained. That's the thing, it's not illegal to sell private data. It's not illegal for prosecutors and cops to buy private data. It definitely feels like it should be, so I get why you'd think that. Feels aren't the legal code. [1] https://www.npr.org/2026/03/25/nx-s1-5752369/ice-surveillance-data-brokers-congress-anthropic https://www.npr.org/2026/03/25/nx-s1-5752369/ice-surveillanc...

triceratops 5mo ago

https://www.haslettlaw.com/blog/2013/november/-you-may-beat-the-rap-but-you-cant-beat-the-ride/ https://www.haslettlaw.com/blog/2013/november/-you-may-beat-...