Criminal Abortion and Citizen’s Arrest

In the aftermath of Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, many states rushed to classify abortion as homicide. In addition to criminalizing abortion, some states have shown a willingness to place enforcement of the new laws in the hands of ordinary citizens through a variety of private enforcement mechanisms. These new abortion statutes exist in tandem with existing citizen’s arrest laws to create the possibility for women, providers, and those who assist them to be subject to this problem-ridden doctrine. This Article analyzes potential scenarios in which these areas clash and pose new risks to exercising what was not long ago viewed as a settled constitutional right.

Because of the chilling effect on abortion health care and the threat to privacy and safety, the Article concludes that citizen’s arrest should not be applicable in the abortion context.