How Your At-Home DNA Test Could Send Women to Jail
1.9.26
Click to skip ahead: Wyoming Republicans Planning a Supreme Court Coup; Virginia Woman Arrested Over Her 1991 Pregnancy; In the States: South Dakota, Pennsylvania, Texas; Further Attacks on Texas Midwife; National News; Meet AED
Wyoming Republicans Planning a Supreme Court Coup
Earlier this week, we shared terrific news: the Wyoming Supreme Court struck down the state’s two abortion bans. Instead of accepting the decision, however, Republicans immediately started strategizing how they could ban abortion anyway.
WyoFile reports that after the ruling came down, GOP lawmakers held a closed-door meeting to discuss shrinking the bench from five to three judges—a move to skew the court more conservative and outlaw abortion. A good portion of the legislators in that meeting were members of the ultra-conservative Wyoming Freedom Caucus, who released a statement earlier this week calling the court “a stain on the Wyoming judicial branch,” and “filled with jurists who reject basic biology and human dignity.”
Wyoming Republicans haven’t taken definitive action—yet. But this backdoor effort is par for the anti-abortion course. Conservative lawmakers have tried to undo abortion rights protections in every state that has them, even when voters decisively rejected abortion bans. (As we’ve seen in Kansas, Ohio, and Missouri.)
And whether it’s municipal zoning laws to try to shutter abortion clinics or faux environmental concerns to ban abortion pills, underhandedness has become the name of the game. Wyoming Republicans’ plan to shrink the state Supreme Court is just the latest example.
We’ll keep you updated as we learn more. In the meantime, read about why last week’s decision was so important—not just for Wyoming, but all of us:
Virginia Woman Arrested Over Her 1991 Pregnancy
A 55-year-old woman in Fairfax, Virginia, was arrested on Wednesday in connection to the death of an ‘infant’ found in a dumpster in Kentucky… in 1991. That’s right, thirty-five years ago.
As is often the case with arrests like these, the only information we have comes from law enforcement—and we all know better than to take their word for anything. (Especially in cases involving women accused of ‘abandoning’ their ‘infants.’)
The Kentucky State Police—who seem to be especially excited about making pregnancy-related arrests these days—claim that ‘Baby Jane Doe’ was born alive and healthy, and was abandoned in a dumpster.
Here’s the really chilling part: police say they found the Virginia woman thanks to “new technologies” and “advancements in forensic science.” Translation? They identified her using an at-home ancestry test—the kind people take to learn about their heritage, or find distant cousins.
This isn’t the first time cops have used these tests to target women over pregnancies that happened decades ago: In December 2024, a Florida woman’s DNA test led to her grandmother being charged with murder, involuntary manslaughter, and concealing the death of an individual—for the death of an ‘infant’ 20 years earlier. And an Ohio mother and grandmother was arrested in 2019 after cops used DNA testing to tie her to “a baby that was left” in the woods 26 years before.
Often enough, these cases center on women who experienced miscarriage, stillbirth, or other pregnancy-related medical emergencies—and in the midst of extreme trauma, didn’t know how to move forward. As Pregnancy Justice’s Karen Thompson tells us:
“We approach the police narrative of women killing their newborns with a high level of skepticism because we’ve seen the harm it can do, and we have seen how often police get it wrong. We’ve represented women and tracked dozens of cases across the country where they were prosecuted—often as grandmothers and often decades after suffering a devastating stillbirth—because DNA tests linked them to fetal remains and junk forensic science was then used to claim ‘proof’ that a baby was born alive.”
Thompson continued, “The reality is that pregnancies sometimes have tragic endings, and if that is the case here, criminalization is the wrong response.”
Whatever information does or doesn’t come to light about this latest case, we simply can’t overstate the cruelty of arresting someone over a tragedy 35 years later—and the importance of not rushing to judgments based on the word of police.
As advancements continue to be made in forensic technology and DNA testing, it’s beyond disturbing to watch them co-opted by the state to surveil and criminalize women. And it’s safe to say that most people taking an AncestryDNA or 23andMe test probably don’t realize they could be helping to arrest their grandmas or distant relatives.
In the States: South Dakota, Pennsylvania, Texas
Abortion, Every Day will be keeping a close eye on South Dakota this week, as free speech and abortion rights head to state court. Remember, this all started when Mayday Health ran a pro-choice ad campaign at gas stations across the state—which simply read, “Pregnant? Don’t want to be?,” along with the group’s website.
First, South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley issued a cease-and-desist, claiming the ads violate the state’s deceptive trade practices law. (He claims abortion pills are dangerous.) When Mayday pointed out he was full of shit—though they put it much more politely—Jackley asked a court to intervene. Now, Mayday Health is suing Jackley for his free speech attack, arguing he’s targeting them because of his own anti-abortion “animus.”
South Dakota’s attack isn’t an anomaly: Republicans across the country are trying to restrict or eliminate speech about abortion rights—from legislation to ban pro-choice websites to classifying abortion funds’ work as ‘aiding and abetting’ criminal actions.
So we’ll be paying close attention to what a state court says this coming Friday during a hearing on Jackley’s efforts to shut down Mayday’s campaign.
Meanwhile, we’re very sorry to hear that Planned Parenthood of Western Pennsylvania will be temporarily closing two clinics for the next few months. The move comes as reproductive healthcare clinics across the country have been forced to shutter by the defunding provision of the Trump administration’s ‘big beautiful bill’.
Finally, let’s check in with Texas, where the city of San Antonio has shut down its abortion fund—meant to help patients seeking abortions outside of the state. The fund sparked a battle with state Attorney General Ken Paxton, who claimed victory last week after the case was dismissed without a finding for either side.
In truth, the city had ended the fund a while ago—so Paxton was just looking for a reason to publish a self-congratulatory press release. The language Paxton used, however, is worth noting: “It is illegal for cities to fund abortion tourism with taxpayer funds…San Antonio’s unlawful attempt to cover the travel and other expenses for out-of-state abortions has now officially been defeated.” (Emphasis ours.)
Republicans have been trying to make ‘abortion tourism’ a thing since the end of Roe—using the term to classify pretty much any pro-choice law or modicum of support. It’s a way to make medical refugees sound like they’re off taking a beach vacation.
Further Attacks on Texas Midwife
While we’re on Texas and Ken Paxton’s anti-abortion obsession: it’s been almost a year since Houston-based midwife Maria Margarita Rojas became the first person charged under the state’s criminal abortion law. Rojas was indicted on 15 felony counts for allegedly providing two abortions, and nearly a dozen of her associates have been arrested in connection with her case since.
Paxton accuses Rojas and her associates of “providing illegal abortions and practicing medicine without proper medical licenses.” Rojas served a predominantly low-income, non-English-speaking community—and amid escalating xenophobia under Trump 2.0, conservative narratives about the case have been shamelessly racist. Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America labeled Rojas an “illegal abortionist,” for example—but when a white abortion provider was indicted last year, the organization simply called her an “abortionist,” sans “illegal.”
Now local news station KPRC 2 reports Rojas was accused of missing several payments for a court-ordered GPS monitor on Wednesday. Her attorney told the court that Rojas is struggling to afford the payments, which are around $300 per month:
“It’s hard while you’re being faced with charges for a criminal case that you, a crime you didn’t commit, to find employment and to do work and she has bills to pay including $300 dollars a month for a monitor.”
Let the cruelty of this scenario sink in: a midwife facing felony charges for serving her community is also being charged hundreds per month to help the state surveil her.
Her next court date is set for June 3.
National News
Republicans are in disarray after President Trump instructed them to be “flexible on Hyde” amid ongoing Affordable Care Act-related negotiations—a comment that his own press secretary just walked back.
Anti-abortion leaders and conservative outlets have been fuming about Trump’s comments. GOP senators are upset too: one senator, North Dakota’s Sen. Kevin Cramer, expressed concern that Trump is alienating the anti-abortion lobby, which he characterized as Republicans’ “most important constituency.” And his full quote reveals just how astounding anti-abortion organizations’ influence is over the Republican Party:
“One of our most important if not our most important constituency is not flexible [on Hyde]. People fear the [National Rifle Association]. Well, that’s nothing compared to National Right to Life.”
Mind you, National Right to Life is the organization behind some of the most heinous abortion laws in the nation, including bans on birth control and legislation that could charge abortion patients with homicide. Their Texas chapter boasted about recruiting abusive men to instigate litigation harassment against women who have abortions. That is who Republicans see as their “most important constituency.”
Cramer added that expanding Hyde is “super important” and that “it’s crystal clear” his GOP colleagues are “not flexible on it.”
But remember: this has nothing to do with Hyde. Here’s the truth: All of this is happening because Congressional Republicans are trying to block efforts to renew ACA tax credits by making insane demands that would radically expand Hyde. The policy already prohibits federal funds from covering abortion—Republicans and anti-abortion leaders now want it to include state and private insurance plans, too.
As we told you yesterday, even if conservatives disagree on approach, all of them—from Trump to the National Right to Life—are on the same side: the side trying to eliminate abortion access.
All of this is unfolding as the nation continues to reel from the murder of a Minneapolis mother by an ICE agent. Video shows the agent, Jonathan Ross shooting Renee Nicole Good several times in the face for the presumed ‘crime’ of trying to drive away. Ross’ own body camera footage captures the ICE agent calling Good a “fucking bitch” after killing her.
This is the ninth ICE shooting since September, and comes after 32 people died in ICE custody in 2025 alone—the deadliest year in two decades.
While the Trump administration heartlessly justifies this extrajudicial execution, advocates point out that ICE’s invasion of our communities is an immigrant justice and reproductive justice issue. As activist Becca Rea-Tucker has put it, ICE exists to separate immigrant families—and, this week, to murder a child’s parent:
“Reproductive justice is about the right to parent or not, in safety, with the support of our communities. ICE is the antithesis of those values.”
Physicians for Reproductive Health’s Jamila Perritt also condemned the killing and, in particular, how ICE officers appeared to block a health care worker from helping Good after she was shot:
“As health care providers, we took an oath to care for people in need. The behavior of ICE agents on the scene was both deplorable and far too common. Many communities have been repeatedly denied care by agents of the State under the guise of safety or law and order.”
Meet AED
Are you based in New York City? Abortion, Every Day reporter Kylie Cheung will be chatting this week with Becca Rea-Tucker (aka the Sweet Feminist) for the launch of her new book, The Abortion Companion. They’ll be at Book Club Bar at 8pm on Tuesday, January 13.
Find more details about the event here.
Women and girls can't get law enforcement to test rape kits, these have a high likelihood of leading to the arrest of serial rapists and men who abuse children, but law enforcement can spend money on genetic testing to prosecute tragedies that may or may not even involve an actual crime.
Every tax-paying Republican should be up in arms about this. Since I assume that charges like “improper disposal of a corpse”are no longer possible due to the statute of limitations, the only thing they can charge these women for is murder or some variant like manslaughter. They would have to prove that there was an “infant,” who was born alive and subsequently died, and that the woman they are putting on trial caused the “death” of the “infant.” The chances of proving that beyond a reasonable doubt are essentially zero—Even if the could prove there was an “infant” who was born alive, how can they prove that the “mother” caused its death? Maybe she left it on a church doorstep and some malevolent actor came along and brought it to a dumpster. DNA evidence is simply not dispositive here—they have no witnesses, they can’t provide a motive, while they can connect the “mother” to the “infant,” they can’t prove she was culpable for its death. So this is a complete waste of taxpayer dollars and takes public servants away from much more pressing crime-fighting activities. What is the agenda, exactly? To intimidate women?