Mothers in Prison

Reproductive Health in Prison

In the United States approximately 4 to 5 percent of women in jail or prison are pregnant at the time of admittance. Although a woman maintains her right to terminate a pregnancy after incarceration, obstacles can exist for women prisoners that deter them from obtaining abortions. Obstacles include requiring court orders before granting transportation to an abortion clinic, requiring women to pay for transportation, and requiring the woman to make all arrangements on her own.

Debate exists over the effects of incarceration on birth outcomes. While negative effects have been noted due to increased stress, inadequate prenatal care, and lack of attention to nutritional needs of pregnant prisoners, positive effects have also been found. The majority of female prisoners lived in poverty prior to their arrests. Many female prisoners have substance abuse problems or have suffered abuse and trauma in their lives. Incarceration may serve several functions for women, including increasing access to prenatal care, decreasing access to alcohol and drugs, and removing them from violent situations.

While there are guidelines for prenatal care in U.S. federal prisons, state and local prisons are not required to follow these mandates. Consequently, the prenatal care pregnant inmates receive is often minimal and childbirth education is rarely offered. Few prisons have medical facilities that can accommodate childbirth, so pregnant inmates are frequently transported to community hospitals.

Since there is no policy requiring special accommodations for the transportation of pregnant inmates, laboring women are often subjected to the same routine used for male prisoners, which includes body searches and shackling. This routine, combined with long distances to local hospitals can result in women being shackled for all or the majority of their labor as well as giving birth en route. The process of shackling laboring inmates has been deemed “cruel, inhumane, and degrading treatment” by Amnesty International, U.S.A.

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