Pregnant? That Might Get You Arrested

[ismnotwasm]

In a piece at RH Reality Check, the paper's authors detail some of the examples they found in their search of legal and public records, as well as media accounts. Here are just a few of them they include:

A Louisiana woman was charged with murder and spent approximately a year in jail before her counsel was able to show that what was deemed a murder of a fetus or newborn was actually a miscarriage that resulted from medication given to her by a health care provider.
In Texas, a pregnant woman who sometimes smoked marijuana to ease nausea and boost her appetite gave birth to healthy twins. She was arrested for delivery of a controlled substance to a minor.
A doctor in Wisconsin had concerns about a woman's plans to have her birth attended by a midwife. As a result, a civil court order of protective custody for the woman's fetus was obtained. The order authorized the sheriff’s department to take the woman into custody, transport her to a hospital, and subject her to involuntary testing and medical treatment.
Fifty-two percent of the women in the cases they found were African American. Seventy-one percent were likely low income, as they were represented by indigent defense in the legal case. Sixty-nine percent were under the age of 30, and 56 percent were in the South. And, lest you think these are mostly old cases, they found more than 25 in 2005, the last year included in the paper. The authors also said that, while not included in this research, they are aware of at least 250 cases since 2005.

"It's a system of law in which pregnant women are treated as an underclass."
The authors argue that the issues at play here are greater than reproductive choice, but about women's rights.

"What we saw was not just a limitation on abortion or reproductive rights, or even the deprivation of civil liberties, but the denial of pregnant woman of virtually every right," said Lynn M. Paltrow, the executive director of National Advocates for Pregnant Women and the lead author of the study in a call with reporters on Tuesday. "It's a system of law in which pregnant women are treated as an underclass."

http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2013/01/study-women-denied-legal-rights-because-pregnancy


Here is evil.

[Drale]

1. A few weeks ago I took my girlfriend to the hospital to see her uncle

and while we were waiting for him, I was talking to this girl, about 18 or 19 who was pregnant and she was telling me how the first doctor she saw treated her really badly and completely judged her because she was pregnant and wasn't wearing a wedding ring. My girlfriend lives in Indiana, while I live in Illinois and the hospital was in Indiana. I don't know what wtf was wrong with that asshole but I have not heard good stories and my girlfriend and her family have not had good luck with doctors or hospitals in Indiana. I told her she should find a doctor in Illinois since the border is only about 20 minutes from the hospital, she friended me and my girlfriend on facebook and said she found an awesome doctor in Illinois. I swear to Sauron, these Red States are just ridiculous to the point where I would never move to one, even if it meant losing a very good job.

[seabeyond]

3. i was older having babies. my niece really young. when she was telling me about her treatment

by the doctors it was totally different than how i was treated. this is in texas.

all about judgment, which should not be in the treating of patients.

[LisaLynne]

4. I live in Indiana and have always had good medical treatment and great doctors.

There are backwards assholes all over.

[seabeyond]

2. at the grocery store today, had an older man putting groceries in car. he says, was retired until

obama made him go back to work.

getting to my car, i say, ya, see my bumpersticer. (obama/biden)

he says, ah, both parties are the same. doesnt matter who is in the office.

i told him.... does too, if you are a woman. damn straight it matters to women.

he back up quick. ys, he says, he gets it with women, knows about that issue. talking more the corporate greed. had to agree with him and let him off the hook as long as he realized that for women...

it matters.

this is more of the same old free for all on women.

thanks. my list of mad is getting really long.

[LisaLynne]

5. Our society sees pregnant women as somehow less than human...

or at least not fully adults. Even something as "simple" as strangers feeling they have the right to touch a pregnant woman's stomach speaks to this.

[noiretextatique]

7. you are correct, but it not just pregnant women

it's females in general.

[seabeyond]

8. that is what i was thinking about this post. that certainly, touching the belly, i got

Last edited Wed Jan 16, 2013, 07:11 PM - Edit history (1)

that she was talking about preg women in particular. but the whole notion that women are children to be taken care of is way too prevelant.

[noiretextatique]

10. right

reminds me of "Gynecology." the author describes the patriarchial view of the fetus "belonging" to "society,"and the woman being little more than a vessel.

[We People]

9. Pregnant women somehow less than human, but fetus somehow to be worshipped

At least the pro-lifers do.

People who see pregnant women that way have abusive, punitive mindsets, and apparently hate sex. Somehow wanting to punish the woman for getting pregnant, for having sex, for enjoying sex. Yet men themselves entertain thoughts about sex, but they must somehow punish women for being pregnant.

It's one for the psychiatric profession to figure out. The attitudes described here are beneath 21st century thinking, yet they endure.

Some segments of our society are regressing. These should be the last people allowed to win elective office or otherwise put in a position of lawful authority.

[noiretextatique]

6. Gender Terrorism

and racist, classist terrorism. fucking outrageous

[ismnotwasm]

11. 1+

[mwooldri]

12. Concerns over having a birth attended to by a midwife? WTF?

Has this WI doctor been disbarred or licence revoked or something like that? Sure, midwifery seems to be the exception more than the norm around these parts but some parts of the world would be cheering for joy if there were enough midwifes around! Heck, insurance companies if they had their way would try to encourage people to go into midwifery, because midwives pay is less than that of a doc who's been through med school.

Edit to add: That is just some crazy stuff going on! That's stupid and insane.

[ismnotwasm]

13. This article contains a PDF of the study

The 'New Jane Crow' and American Women's Civil Rights

Roe is an interpretation of the constitution that extends fundamental rights to women, rights that were previously denied us. When should an American woman -- whether she's in Alabama or not -- be fearful for her privacy, freedom, health and life? Three weeks into a pregnancy? Six?

More than 400 examples like those above are included in the most comprehensive post-Roe examination of cases in which pregnancy was a necessary part of the deprivation of civil rights -- in states across the country. The study, Arrests and Forced Interventions on Pregnant Women in the United States, 1995-2005: Implications for Women's Legal Status and Public Health, was released earlier today by the Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law. The cases all occurred in an environment where abortion is legal. No state has any law holding women liable for the outcomes of their pregnancies or laws that overtly target women. Instead, existing laws are deliberately being misapplied and misinterpreted to target women. Although the study ends in 2005, there are many cases between then and now. The study concluded:

• The women subjected to deprivations of physical liberty were overwhelmingly economically disadvantaged (71 percent);

• African American women are significantly more likely to be arrested, reported to state authorities by hospital staff, and subjected to felony charges (59 percent women of color; 52 percent African American women;

• Drug war myths and misinformation played a major role in fueling the arrests, detentions, and forced interventions on pregnant women;

• Declining to follow treatment advice was identified as part of the justification for the arrest, detention, or forced medical intervention in nearly one in five cases;

• Drinking alcohol was mentioned as a factor in 41 cases with alcohol being the only factor in addition to pregnancy justifying the arrest in 15 cases;

• Thirty of the cases involved efforts to force women to submit to medical interventions and examinations against their wills.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/soraya-chemaly/the-new-jane-crow_b_2467883.html