A Welcome Trend

For many years, abortion providers have been appalled at the treatment of imprisoned pregnant women.  Our efforts to have dignity restored to those women while in hospital giving birth have begun to see results.  Today PA agreed that it was both unnecessary and dangerous to have women shackled during labor and delivery, being the tenth state to do so.  Those of you who have gone through delivery yourselves can only imagine how much more painful it must be with your arms and legs in chains.

Abortion clinics, being pro-choice, have long championed a woman's right to choose whether to continue a pregnancy or not.  Incarcerated women are guaranteed that right too, but often receiving adequate prenatal care is difficult.  Getting an abortion can be even more so, with some states refusing to provide transportation for medical appointments as required by law, or delaying the permission until it's too late for her to have an abortion, only to have her child taken from her at the moment of birth.

We will continue our efforts in the remaining 40 states until all pregnant women can be treated with respect and deliver their babies safely.  We will also continue to defend the right of an imprisoned woman to have access to abortion if she thinks that is best.

Lu

Breaking News: Pennsylvania Passes Law against Shackling Pregnant Women

Today, the Pennsylvania Legislature gave final approval to a bill that restricts the shackling of pregnant women in jail or prison; it now goes to the governor for his signature. The bill prohibits using restraints on pregnant women when they are being taken to a medical facility, in labor, and after giving birth, absent “extraordinary” circumstances.

 

Once the bill is signed into law, Pennsylvania will join Colorado, West Virginia, and Washington as states that took action against shackling in 2010, bringing the total to 10 overall.

 

As these developments demonstrate, recognition is growing that restraining women in labor and childbirth is both cruel and unnecessary, given that corrections officers or jail deputies are always with women during their hospital stay. The American Medical Association and American Bar Association recently made clear their opposition to the practice of restraining women who are in labor, following the American Public Health Association, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, and a host of women’s rights, human rights, and health organizations.

 

When it comes time to go on record and cast a vote, almost every legislator has voted in support of these measures. Yet, as is so often the case with social policy in the U.S., shackling women in labor is a problem that has primarily been tackled state by state, which means there is still a long way to go to ensure that all women in custody can give birth safely and with dignity.

Comments

[earn-money]

Love to read abortionclinicdays.blogs.com
short url money

[m to m]

I wanted to thank you for this excellent read!! I definitely loved every little bit of it.Cheers for the info!!!! & This is the perfect blog for anyone who wants to know about this topic. You know so much its almost hard to argue with you .........
thanks

[Medieval Girl]

It's about time indeed,no one would try to escape you know when in labor.What's on the mother's head is actually focusing on how to get the child out to be able to get rid of the pain.True, legs would get numb and can't even try to stand up.Good thing it's been signed.Hope the states would take follow.

[Katherine Kramer]

As an ob/gyn in Pennsylvania, I had to fight the prison people who bring in patients to deliver. They expect them to stay shackled while in active labor. Its so unsafe, medically, not to mention inhuman. There was in one case a big decel while the patient was on the birthing ball, and the chain made it so hard to put her back in the bed, examine her and place a scalp electrode. In another case, there was a delay to an emergency c/s for fetal bradycardia as they had to find the guard with the key (who was in the coffee shop) and we couldn't transfer the patient from the labor bed to the or table. We were thinking of sectioning her in her bed! Why are they treating women this way is beyond belief, especially in labor! You just can't reason with the guards (i.e. the patients legs are so numb from the epidural she can't even get up!) Its about time!