Sen. Kelda Roys, D-Madison, announced the Pregnancy Loss Protection Act Dec. 2, which would protect those who experience pregnancy loss from prosecution, according to a press release.

This bill would protect women from fines or imprisonment for the outcome of the pregnancy, including stillbirth, miscarriage, abortion or any other outcome that is not a live birth, according to the bill. This bill would ensure that a person who experienced pregnancy loss is never treated like a criminal, Roys said.

“After the Dobbs decision, we’ve seen hundreds of women across the country being investigated, prosecuted and even jailed because of experiencing a pregnancy loss,” Roys said. “And this has happened not just in states where abortion is criminalized, but even in states where women aren’t supposed to be able to be prosecuted because they’ve attempted to have an abortion.”

There have been cases across the country where women who are experiencing a miscarriage have been arrested and jailed rather than being taken to the emergency room, according to Roys. Roys said that the physical and emotional toll of a miscarriage, compounded with denied healthcare and being treated as a criminal, is deeply wrong.

The bill would prohibit law enforcement from investigating someone as a crime suspect because of any pregnancy outcome, according to the bill. Also, the bill says that in order to investigate a crime against someone that resulted in their pregnancy loss, law enforcement must first obtain the consent of the person who was pregnant.

“College students and young people are one of the groups at greatest risk if the anti-choice movement gets its way,” Roys said. “These extremists want to control the most personal and private decisions in our lives and do so without any concern for our healthcare.”

The Pregnancy Loss Protection Act further clarifies that the term “corpse,” in the use for criminal penalties, does not include fetal tissue that is the result of a pregnancy loss, save stillbirth, according to the bill.

According to the bill, it would prohibit funds at any level of government from being authorized to subsidize, reimburse or provide compensation for the investigation of someone due to a pregnancy outcome.

“The anti-choice movement has demonstrated real contempt for women and a complete lack of regard for the safety and lives of pregnant people,” Roys said. “Criminalizing abortion means that any woman who experiences a miscarriage or pregnancy loss is going to be viewed as a suspect, and her body will be treated as a crime scene.”