On September 28, 2012, Governor Brown of California signed Assembly Bill 2530 into law, ushering in a new era of legal protection from shackling during pregnancy. Beginning January 1, 2013, the new law will prohibit shackling women around the belly, at the ankles, or with handcuffs behind their back throughout pregnancy . The law also prohibits shackling women in any way at all when they are in labor, giving birth, or recovering from childbirth. Medical providers can also order the removal of shackles. The only exception is if corrections officials determine that an individual woman poses a...

The Center for Women Policy Studies has published a series of papers called Reproductive Laws for the 21st Century . My contribution is called "She Doesn't Deserve to be Treated Like This": Prisons as Sites of Reproductive Injustice , and I’m excited to share it with the MomsRising community. The quotation in the title comes from a Pennsylvania grandmother whose 22 year-old granddaughter was left to give birth all alone, locked in a prison cell. No matter how she tried to convince the prison staff that she needed to go to a hospital, they wouldn’t listen. This is just one of many chilling...

Governor Jan Brewer of Arizona signed into law a measure to limit the shackling of pregnant women, bringing the number of states with such laws on the books to 15. The new law applies to state and county prisons and jails, and prohibits shackling during transportation to the hospital to give birth as well as during labor, delivery, and post-partum recovery. The Legislature’s action follows a much-publicized lawsuit brought by a woman against Sheriff Arpaio of Maricopa County for shackling her to the hospital bed before and immediately after she gave birth by Cesarean surgery, as well as an...

The New York Times ran a front-page story today about the history of sterilization abuse in the United States, particularly the aggressive program in North Carolina under which some 7,600 people were sterilized – often as teens or young adults and without their knowledge. North Carolina is hardly alone in this sordid history but after journalists published an expose in 2002, the state government was confronted with the question of what to do to try to redress the harms inflicted on people who suffered sterilization abuse at the hands of the government. As one woman who was sterilized as a...

Two sessions. Two bills passed unanimously by the Legislature, thanks to broad-based organizing campaigns. And now, two vetoes, from governors of two different political parties. According to The Sacramento Bee , California's Governor Brown vetoed the bill to protect pregnant women from shackling today, October 9. After waiting until the last minute to issue a decision, he said, “At first blush, I was inclined to sign this bill because it certainly seems inappropriate to shackle a pregnant inmate unless absolutely necessary.” “However,” he continued, “the language of this measure goes too far...

For the second session in a row, the California Legislature has unanimously passed a bill to prohibit the shackling of pregnant incarcerated women. However, uncertainty remains over whether the governor will sign the bill. Last time, Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed the bill, claiming that its mandates went outside the scope of the designated government agency’s responsibility. Now, Democratic Governor Jerry Brown is the one who will decide the bill’s fate, but he will be getting input from the same public safety advisor held over from the previous administration. Why does...

In April, I wrote about an important federal court decision holding the Nashville Sheriff’s Office accountable for violating a woman’s rights by shackling her during labor and then denying her access to a breast pump when she was taken back to jail after giving birth. Today, The Tennessean reports that a federal jury awarded the woman $200,000 in damages for the wrongs she suffered at the hands of the government. Notably, the judge ruled that the woman’s immigration status was irrelevant to the jury’s decision about whether the Sheriff should compensate her for having violated her rights. In...

Rigid foster care rules threaten to dissolve family ties when mothers are in prison or residential drug treatment. A new law in New York State takes steps to help these families weather the separation.

The American Medical Association takes a stand against shackling women in labor