Her case would ultimately land a national spotlight on the anguish, uncertainty and even danger that millions of women, like Rebecca, have experienced in the minutes and hours after a miscarriage.

But as the 2022 overturning of Roe v Wade continues to roil laws around reproductive health and the legal status of fetuses, someone else may soon face criminal consequences over their handling of a miscarriage.

The law can be startlingly vague on the topic of miscarriages and their aftermath, while the persistent miasma of misinformation about pregnancy loss compounds people’s confusion and terror.

In the 14 states with near-total abortion bans, there’s no good way to deal with the remains of pregnancy, according to Wells, an OB-GYN in Seattle, Washington and a fellow with Physicians for Reproductive Health.

But before the overturning of Roe, several anti-abortion state legislatures moved to implement requirements around the handling of fetal remains – which can also be known as products of conception – including in cases of miscarriages, stillbirths or abortion.

Abortion rights advocates attacked these laws, passed in states including Indiana and Texas, as veiled attempts to impose onerous, expensive restrictions on clinics.

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