Simple Joy Counseling

10/23/2026

Mallori Patrice Strait miscarried in a public bathroom in Texas and was arrested for ab*se of a co**se. A judge set her bond at $100,000, and she spent nearly five months in jail, including her 34th birthday, before prosecutors dropped the case for insufficient evidence. While she was locked up, a crisis pregnancy center, or a clinic that is usually not staffed by medical professionals and is typically religiously affiliated, took custody of her fetal remains and buried them.

In Ohio, Brittany Watts was arrested after miscarrying at home in her toilet. Police photographed her blood-stained pants, her soiled rags, a drug store receipt for Tylenol, and a discarded hospital bracelet, and entered them as evidence. She faced up to a year in prison before a grand jury refused to indict her.

In Georgia, police arrested a 24-year-old who lost a pregnancy at 19 weeks, and the district attorney later dropped it after a medical examiner confirmed the miscarriage was naturally occurring.

In the three years since the Dobbs decision revoked the constitutional right to ab*rtion, Pregnancy Justice, an org that works to defend the rights of pregnant people across the country, documented 902 cases where someone was charged with a crime related to their pregnancy, pregnancy loss, or birth.

Its earlier reports found 210 in the first year and 412 by the second, which means the rate of people being charged with pregnancy-related crimes is increasing. The group notes that some of the increase may be because of better tracking, although the trend line is consistent.

Cases occurred in at least 23 states: South Carolina had the highest with 381 cases, Oklahoma with 222, and Alabama with 204. These states have some of the strictest ab*rtion bans in the country: SC Republicans have proposed the d*ath penalty for ab*rtion seekers.

Of the 902 people charged, 599 were reported as white. In 871 of the cases, prosecutors alleged substance use during pregnancy, and in 77, they treated the absence of prenatal care as evidence of a crime. More than three-quarters of the defendants in Pregnancy Justice’s two-year data were low-income.

Only 13 of the 902 cases involved any allegation about an ab*rtion. Between 10 and 20% of known pregnancies end in miscarriage, which is the medical event lawmakers and law enforcement are treating as suspicious.

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists says criminalizing pregnancy deters nothing and harms both the pregnant person and the infant.

Women in these cases were frequently arrested after seeking medical help or answering a doctor honestly, with hospital staff handing information to police.

Every one of these prosecutions is a message to pregnant people in these states that a hospital is a place where you can be arrested.

Remember, these rights are still on the ballot this November.

10/03/2026

BREAKING🚨 ICE PINNED a U.S. citizen's pregnant belly against a truck and chained her for 8 HOURS. Now, she's suing the agents personally.

Cary Lopez was nine months pregnant on June 8, 2025, when ICE agents in Hawthorne pinned her belly against a truck, her lawsuit says. Video shows bystanders begging the agents, whose faces were covered, to let her go. She was held in chains for about eight hours, and the suit says the stress sent her into early labor.

On Tuesday, hours after Newsom signed SB 747, the No Kings Act, she became one of three suing ICE.

Javier Ramirez was at his family's junk car business in Montebello on June 12, 2025, when agents ignored "no trespassing" signs and came in through an open gate, his lawsuit says. "Get him, he's Mexican," one agent said while holding him down, according to the complaint. Video shows them tackling him. His family can be heard on the video telling agents he's a citizen, and Ramirez says he told them five times himself.

An agent pressed a knee into his face before he was put into an unmarked vehicle and held for four days. Ramirez says agents told him it was for "resisting arrest, impeding a federal investigation." He says he never found out why he was really arrested.

Angel Piña's wife called 911 on July 12, 2025, after the couple saw agents "harassing and pushing minors," his suit says. An agent tackled him from behind. After he was already handcuffed, a third agent put his body weight on him. He kept yelling that he was a U.S. citizen and needed medical help. He was eventually taken to the hospital by ambulance.

The new law lets Californians sue any federal agent for money over excessive force, searches without a warrant, and targeting people for their race or national origin. It covers anything back to March 1, 2025. State Sen. Scott Wiener, who wrote it, says Supreme Court rulings had given agents "de facto immunity." Protect Democracy, which co-sponsored the bill, says California is the fifth state this year to pass this kind of law, after New York, Vermont, Connecticut and Massachusetts.

"A badge does not give anyone permission to violate the rights of the people they encounter," said Maria Garcia Baldizzone, the lawyer for all three.

Trump's top federal prosecutor in Los Angeles, U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli, responded online: "If you want to regulate federal agents, you have to win a federal election. Until then, you have no jurisdiction."

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05/20/2026

05/20/2026

Maternal mental health is not a political issue. It’s a women’s wellbeing issue. We need to advocate across the aisle for the act of motherhood.

05/11/2026

To all of the mamas in waiting...

I spent 10 years wanting to be a mama. And each year on Mother's Day, it was like getting kicked in the gut. I dreaded that day like no other. And it sticks with me, even now.

So yesterday, I sent messages to all the client's I am working with right now that are going through infertility. So they could feel seen in their pain, fear and longing. And I mentioned to someone that there should be more messages like this on Mother's Day.
So I wanted to share this with all of you.

I'd imagine you have some mixed emotions this weekend. Whether you are desperately hoping to become a mama, grieving any little ones you lost, or praying to be able to keep building your family.

In infertility, we often find ourselves holding our breath, just waiting for the life we thought we would have by now. Especially when it feels like everyone around us has it.

Choose to breath. Take some time to let yourself feel all the feels that come with that. Then... do something to fill your cup. Lean hard into the life you have today while you are working to build the future you want.

Hang in there. You are not alone. 💛
- Alicia

04/24/2026

Infertility is often misunderstood and reduced to assumptions, misinformation, oversimplified advice, or uncomfortable silence.

Today’s conversation is about truth and empathy. If you could correct one misunderstanding or explain one reality people often miss, what would it be?