Elected Prosecutors ‘Last Line of Defense’ if Roe Goes

The possibility of American life without federal abortion rights puts a spotlight on state prosecutors.

“These elected prosecutors are going to become the last line of defense,” Miriam Krinsky said of a potential post-Roe world.

Krinsky, head of reform group Fair and Just Prosecution, discussed the issue on the latest Cases and Controversies episode with Bloomberg Law’s Jordan Rubin.

“This is simply a draft,” Krinsky emphasized, referring to Justice Samuel Alito’s proposed opinion circulated within the court earlier this year and published this week by Politico.

But if the draft becomes law and states turn their attention toward criminalizing people involved in abortions, then prosecutors will have the discretion not to pursue charges, Krinsky said.

She and other former prosecutors and law enforcement leaders filed an amicus brief supporting the clinic in the Mississippi appeal whose opinion was leaked, Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health.

“The notion of limited criminal-justice resources being used for these kinds of investigations and arrests and prosecutions, this should horrify any prosecutor or law enforcement leader that this is what we want to be spending our time on,” Krinsky said on the podcast.

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