An estimated 58,000 pregnant women enter U.S. correctional facilities each year, including many presumed innocent while awaiting trial.
After the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, researchers assessed public opinion about incarcerated women abortion and parental aid, focusing on states that prohibit reproductive choice.
Most respondents favored providing incarcerated women in these states access to abortion, especially in cases of rape or when the pregnancy poses a risk to a woman’s health.
The study, by researchers at the State University of New York at Albany, the University of Cincinnati, and Xavier University, appears in Criminology & Public Policy, a publication of the American Society of Criminology.
“Coerced motherhood behind bars is a human rights violation,” says sociologist Justin Pickett of the State University of New York at Albany, who coauthored the study. “Our study shows that it is also opposed by a majority of the American public.”
Before high court ruling in June 2022 overturning Roe v. Wade, incarcerated women had a constitutional right to an abortion. In practice, access to reproductive services in prison has long been inconsistent and often impeded, in part due to the substandard health care.
Decisions about abortion are now in the hands of state legislatures, and the legal landscape is shifting as state court rulings, ballot initiatives, and restrictions on rights are enacted. Although some women with resources can sidestep these restrictions, incarcerated women cannot do so.
Fesearchers surveyed 800 U.S. residents via YouGov to measure their attitudes toward inmate abortion and parental aid.
The survey concluded that a majority of the U.S. public favors providing incarcerated women in states that prohibit reproductive choice with access to abortion through surgical procedures or pills).
Whether an incarcerated women was serving a prison sentence after a conviction or awaiting trial in jail did not affect respondents’ support.
Most respondents approved of incarcerated mothers' receiving parental aid (e.g., baby
food, baby clothing, nursery care), regardless of whether their child’s birth was coerced or chosen.
Conservative Republicans, who were least in favor of providing incarcerated women access to abortion, were also least supportive of giving mothers parental assistance.
The study authors asked legal groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union and the American Bar Association) to develop a Model Reproductive Services Code delineating the rights and services that all incarcerated women who are pregnant should be accorded, including pregnancy screenings, counseling and assistance in scheduling services, and transportation for surgery or access to pills for a medical abortion.
“Based on our findings, we believe that ideological space exists for reforms aimed at providing incarcerated women with access to reproductive services,” said Paula Smith, associate professor of criminal justice at the University of Cincinnati, who led the study. “Beyond written protocols, transparency is needed to raise consciousness about coerced motherhood behind bars and to shed light on how corrections professionals handle inmate pregnancies.”
The study was supported by the University of Cincinnati.
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