Abortion wars of 2024 – Could women be criminally charged for miscarrying?

A small group of people attend a rally for abortion rights in Union Square in Manhattan on March 8, 2023, in New York City.

Decades ago, the abortion debate often involved photos of bloodied fetuses paraded around on placards and plastered across the sides of over-the-road trucks by groups like Operation Rescue.

The intention was to horrify. Revulsion was the goal. Developing fetuses, umbilical cord attached, covered in blood, were thought to be jarring images, enough to force pro-choice advocates to reconsider.

Back then, too many people naively assumed that access to abortion, under limited conditions, would be legally protected by the Roe v. Wade decision of 1973. Then came the U.S. Supreme Court’s Dobbs v. Jackson in 2022, a decision that removed federal protections, throwing the question of abortion’s legality back to the states.

And we’ve been digressing ever since, floundering to remain calm and reasonable as states decide where they stand legally.

Too often, medical science is undercut by politics, by the same politically minded activists who once thought bloodied images of fetuses driven through city streets was a viable tactic.

Here’s an overlooked stat: As of 2020, the majority of abortions in the U.S. – well over 50 percent – were carried out with a pill by simply taking medication.