Governor Katie Hobbs Must Stop Forced Induced Labor of Pregnant Incarcerated People
UltraViolet, January 12, 2023: Governor Katie Hobbs Must Stop Forced Induced Labor of Pregnant Incarcerated People
“The Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry (ADCRR) is inducing the labor of pregnant incarcerated people against their will, which goes against basic medical ethicals standards.
“Three of the pregnant people who spoke out were told that the forced inductions were necessary to keep them from giving birth in prison. However, these individuals are being deprived of what the Medical Code of Ethics stipulates is ‘informed consent’ for any medical procedure.
“Unfortunately, the forced inductions of pregnant incarcerated people were only recently brought to light; as such, they are not addressed in a successful lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the Prison Law Office. In that lawsuit, a federal judge recently ordered ADCRR to make changes to staffing and conditions so that medical and mental health care at Arizona prisons are brought up to ‘constitutional standards.’
“But the ruling does not cover forced induced labor of pregnant incarcerated people, which carries an elevated risk that uterine muscles won't properly contract after delivery, potentially leading to serious bleeding.”
Additional reading:
The Daily Beast, January 5, 2023: Arizona Inducing Labor in Pregnant Inmates Without Consent: Report
ACLU, July 8, 2022: Federal Judge Finds Arizona’s Prison Health Care Is "Plainly Grossly Inadequate" and Unconstitutional
Mother Jones, July 7, 2022: The Hell of Being Pregnant in Prison Is About to Get So Much Worse
