CLAYTON, Mo. — Kaitlyn Anderson was six months pregnant when a driver killed her and a Missouri Department of Transportation colleague in 2021 while they were doing roadwork near St. Louis. Her fetus also died.

Although Anderson's family tried to sue the department on her behalf, workers' compensation laws in Missouri and elsewhere shield employers from wrongful death lawsuits when an employee dies on the job. So the case was also filed on behalf of the 25-year-old woman's unborn child, a son named Jaxx. This was possible because Missouri law defines life — and legal rights — as beginning at conception.

In turn, the lawyers representing the state argued that, since Jaxx was considered a person, his case should be dismissed because under workers' compensation laws he met the definition of an employee.

"That's just disgusting," said Tonya Musskopf, Anderson's mother. "Who would have known what he would have grown into? His whole life was ahead of him."

What wasn't in question from either side was the idea that the 6-month-old fetus had legal rights under Missouri law. Every state has at least some statute or case law that considers a fetus a person, according to a report from Pregnancy Justice, a nonprofit that advocates for the rights of pregnant people. The report lists Missouri among at least 10 states with personhood language that is so broad it could be interpreted to apply to all civil and criminal laws.

Around the country, state personhood definitions have often been...

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