ABORTION

WHAT WE DO

NAPW defends women who are pregnant and attempt to have abortion, actually have an abortion, or are mistaken as someone who has had an abortion.

NAPW is the leading organization providing pro bono (free) legal assistance to women who have been charged with a crime because they sought to have an abortion, because they had an abortion, or because a doctor, police officer or prosecutor thought a woman had or tried to have an abortion. Approximately 1 million women in the U.S. have abortions each year. It is estimated that one in four women have had an abortion in their lifetimes. The majority of these women (approximately 60%) are already mothers. Of the women over thirty-five years of age who have an abortion, 89% are already mothers raising at least one child, and by age 44, approximately 86% of all women in the US have become pregnant and given birth.

NAPW has played a major role in helping to get convictions overturned and charges dropped or reduced in cases including those against Jennie McCormack, Purvi Patel, and Kenlissia Jones. Today there are new, safe and effective ways to end a pregnancy outside of a medical setting. (see e.g. Plan C and SASS) Several “abortion” cases have come about because women ended their pregnancies outside of an approved medical setting but their efforts to safeguard or dispose of fetal remains were treated as a crime such as “abuse of a corpse.”

NAPW believes that no person should fear arrest or be subjected to other forms of government control or punishment as a result of pregnancy or any outcome of pregnancy.

Call us or have your lawyer reach us at 212-255-9252.

The issue of abortion is in fact interconnected with the all of the other issues NAPW addresses and all of NAPW’s work reflects this.

WHAT YOU
Need to Know

0 %

Of women who have abortions are already mothers

0 %

Of US women have an abortion by age 45

Fact

Even with Roe in place, prosecutors have arrested women for having an or attempting to have an abortion

0 %

Of women have become pregnant and given birth by age 40

NAPW's Work: Abortion

READ MORE

Confronting Pregnancy Criminalization: A Practical Guide for Healthcare Providers, Lawyers, Medical Examiners, Child Welfare Workers, and Policymakers

For decades, pregnant people across America have been subjected to criminalization and deprivations of liberty on the basis of pregnancy or pregnancy ...

With Roe in the Balance, NAPW Launches Multidisciplinary Confronting Pregnancy Criminalization Guide for Medical, Legal, Child Welfare, and Policy Professionals

June 23, 2022

As we await the anticipated fall of Roe and the subsequent loss of the constitutionally protected right to abortion, National Advocates ...