Riley Finds Higher County Pregnancy Criminalization Rates Associated with Delayed and Inadequate Prenatal Care
Posted: 4/30/2026 (CSDE Research)
CSDE Affiliate Taylor Riley (UNC Chapel Hill) and co-authors recently published an article in Women’s Health Issues examining whether county-level pregnancy-related arrest rates were associated with prenatal care access among births in Alabama, which is the leading state in the country for criminalizing pregnancy outcomes and conduct. The study found that individuals living in higher-criminalization counties were more likely to delay prenatal care initiation and to receive inadequate prenatal care. The authors describe these findings as suggestive of a chilling effect of pregnancy criminalization on prenatal health care access, and call for evidence-based policy responses in a post-Dobbs context.