REPORT SEZ CALIFORNIA JAILS FAIL TO PROVIDE ADEQUATE REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH CARE TO WOMEN, BUT LA COUNTY IS DOING THINGS RIGHT
A report by the ACLU of Northern California found that women in jails across the state face delayed and denied access to abortions, limited access to menstrual supplies, and pregnant women reported that food, prenatal care, and living conditions were inadequate for having a healthy pregnancy.
One pregnant inmate named Erica described an alarming response to her medical emergency: “I woke up one morning and felt a sharp shooting pain in my stomach. It was a level nine on a scale of 10 so I asked the morning pill call nurse if I could be taken to the mini-clinic to be checked out,” said Erica. “When I got to the mini-clinic, three different nurses tried to locate my baby’s heartbeat but were unable to detect it. I immediately requested an ultrasound, but the nurses told me that there were no OB/GYN’s on shift and sent me back to my cell. I was really scared because I didn’t know what was going on and I started getting more depressed as time went by because I didn’t know if my baby was alive or dead.”
The report also says that jails do not adequately protect inmates—especially transgender women in male facilities—from sexual assault, as required by the Prison Rape Elimination Act.
The report points to Los Angeles County, where the sheriff’s department vastly improved care for pregnant and postpartum women, implementing recommendations made by the ACLU following an evaluation of the county’s jail policies and practices regarding reproductive health that found delayed abortions, illegal shackling of pregnant women, and more.
The report’s first recommendation is to expand alternatives to incarceration for women, who are often low-level property and drug offenders. The report also calls on jails to collect data on inmates’ reproductive health and outcomes, examine and implement best medical practices, and adopt reproductive health care and sexual assault policies (that are inclusive of transgender people).