Understanding Pregnancy-Related Charges in Criminal Law 2024

Dara Gell (she/her) joined Pregnancy Justice as senior staff attorney in 2024. Previously, she spent nearly seven years with the Innocence Project as the investigations attorney and supervisor for intake partnerships and training. Additionally, she served as interim director of intake at the Innocence Project for three years. She began her career as a practicing immigration defense attorney in New York City. Dara holds a B.A. from State University of New York at Geneseo and a J.D. from Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law.

Molly Linhorst is a Staff Attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey (ACLU-NJ) in Newark, where she conducts litigation and advocacy to protect and advance a range of civil rights, including immigrants’ rights, free speech, and the rights of people in New Jersey’s jails. She first joined the ACLU-NJ in 2019 as a Justice Catalyst Fellow to address conditions in immigration detention centers. She received her bachelor’s degree from Syracuse University in political science and international relations, and her law degree from Harvard Law School.

Robin Marty is the Executive Director of West Alabama’s Women’s Center, a free and sliding scale reproductive health center in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Prior to moving to Alabama in 2021, she was a freelance reporter covering abortion access several states and rural areas. Marty is the author of Handbook for a Post-Roe America and The New Handbook for a Post-Roe America, and the co-author of The End of Roe v. Wade. She is also a 2023-24 Fellow in the Families USA Maternal Health Equity Program, where she is focusing on barriers to prenatal care in Alabama.

Mishka Terplan, M.D., M.P.H., FACOG, DFASAM, is board certified in both obstetrics and gynecology, as well as addiction medicine. He completed his medical degree at the University of California, San Francisco, and his residency in obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles County Hospital. After residency, Dr. Terplan completed the Training in Epidemiology and Clinical Trials (TECT) fellowship at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill where he obtained a Master of Public Health in epidemiology. His primary clinical, research, and advocacy interests lie along the intersections of reproductive and behavioral health.

Dr. Terplan is Associate Medical Director at Friends Research Institute and adjunct faculty at the University of California, San Fransisco, where is a Substance Use Warmline clinician for the National Clinician Consultation Center. He is also the Addiction Medicine Specialist for Virginia Medicaid and a consultant for the National Center on Substance Abuse and Child Welfare. He has active grant funding and has published over 100 peer-reviewed articles with emphasis on health disparities, stigma, and access to treatment. Dr. Terplan has spoken at local high schools and before the United States Congress and has participated in expert panels at the CDC, SAMHSA, ONDCP, OWH, FDA, and NIH primarily on issues related to gender and addiction.