“ The Hyde Amendment is designed to deprive poor and minority women of the constitutional right to choose abortion.” – Justice Thurgood Marshall September 30th marks 40 years of the Hyde Amendment, the federal policy that denies access to abortion to millions who rely on government-funded health insurance plans. The Hyde Amendment affects members of the military, volunteers in the Peace Corps, and those who work for the federal government - as well as every family member enrolled in their insurance plan. It also targets low-income women who qualify for Medicaid, disabled women who qualify for...

On the last day of the legislative session, New Jersey lawmakers enacted a measure to limit the use of restraints on women during labor and childbirth. The Assembly voted 75-0, following a 39-0 vote in the Senate earlier in the year. It is now up to Governor Chris Christie to decide whether to sign it. “Everybody deserves to have a child in a healthy way,” said Assemblywoman Valerie Vainieri Huttle, one of the bill’s primary sponsors, who called the bill “commonsense [and] humane.” Former Assemblywoman Bonnie Watson Coleman, now a U.S. Congresswoman, first introduced an anti-shackling bill in...

In 2012, Nicole G. was left to give birth alone in a Texas jail cell. Her baby’s umbilical cord was wrapped around her neck and the baby died. This week, the county government decided to settle Nicole’s lawsuit rather than take its chances in court. The settlement “saves my client a lot more anguish that she would be faced with going through the trial process,” said her lawyer, Rick Bunch . Nicole’s story catalyzed a coalition campaign for better treatment of pregnant women in jail, bringing new activists to join the work of long-time advocates Texas Jail Project and ACLU of Texas . Earlier...

Why does my inbox have messages saying that Maine’s new law against shackling pregnant women is an “accidental win”? True, the governor of Maine let this and a number of other progressive bills become law without his signature, and then claimed to have vetoed them . But if activists hadn’t run such an effective campaign to win hearts and minds in the legislature, the governor wouldn’t have had the bill on his desk in the first place. Read my take over at RH Reality Check on the crucial role of advocacy in winning positive change. In addition to outlawing shackling , the other new laws in...

Maine could soon become the first state in 2015 to limit the shackling of pregnant women in prison. The bill against shackling is a priority for the Maine Alliance for Reproductive Freedom and an integral part of the ACLU of Maine ‘s focus on criminal justice reform. Twenty-one other states and the District of Columbia currently have laws to limit the dangerous and inhumane practice. If enacted, LD 1013 , “An Act to Prevent the Shackling of Pregnant Prisoners,” would provide broad protection of pregnant women’s health and rights. The bill would prohibit the use of restraints on women “known...

“I believe that our concern must be for pregnant women everywhere, and especially for those who suffer most deprivation and who are denied their liberty.” — Sheila Kitzinger, 1997 Sheila Kitzinger, whose pioneering research and activism on behalf of woman-centered childbirth helped to transform millions of women’s experiences of maternity care, died this month. She was 86. A British anthropologist, Kitzinger was an early critic of the medicalization of childbirth, the deference given to doctors, and the widespread use of medical interventions. She “may be the most important individual in the...

As we reflect on the past year, we see that 2014 brought some progress on protecting the reproductive health and rights of women who are incarcerated, but also revealed the deep, even intractable, problems that women face inside prison walls. Reducing the scale of incarceration is a critical part of any strategy to safeguard the health, rights, and futures of women who experience incarceration.

What’s going on in Texas? Jails in the state are endangering pregnant women and their fetuses, despite the state’s professed interest in “unborn babies.” In May, a woman named Nicole Guerrero filed a lawsuit against the Wichita County Jail for ignoring her when she was in labor. Locked alone in a cell, Nicole gave birth on a mat on the floor to a premature baby who died. Now a woman named Jessica De Samito in the Guadalupe County Jail worries she may face a similar fate. Jail officials are noncommittal about giving Jessica the methadone she needs to keep from going into sudden withdrawal - a...