CW: pregnancy loss, death

Just a reminder that abolition is a reproductive justice issue. I was a doula for (formerly) incarcerated pregnant people and, from experience and research, I learned that pregnancy loss and death of newborns happen in police custody. Too often. 1/

CW: abuse

By “police custody” I mean people being arrested/stopped, people in ICE facilities, and people in jails and prisons. Pregnant people are deprived of food, abused in their cells, and neglected while in labor. Some are shackled while in labor. 2/

I wrote this a while back, it’s not well-written I admit, but it’s an excerpt from my undergraduate thesis called “The Devil at My Door”: Mama’s Baby Qua Homo Sacer. It details some horrific instances of violence against pregnant people in jails. 3/ https://link.medium.com/fMEBq9DxFfb 

CW: pregnancy loss, death, abuse

So many pregnant people who wanted to carry to term and parents have been deprived of their right to give birth and raise their children due to police abuse. Some suffered extreme birth trauma due to negligent jail staff. Newborns have died. 4/

These cases rarely lead to outrage for many reasons. Many people don’t care about incarcerated people, many people don’t care about reproductive justice, and the narrative of “just a lump of cells” can sometimes impact how people think about unintended pregnancy loss. 5/

As we have we conversations about abolition and police violence, let’s please remember that this is a reproductive justice issue. People are being deprived of their right to parent and denied access to resources they need to have a healthy, wanted pregnancy. 6/

Further, the police and jail staff who are responsible for these harms and deaths are rarely held accountable. Even in states where people are criminalized/punished for abortions or miscarriages, where “heartbeat bills” exist. It’s inconsistent. 7/

Relatedly, people in jails and prisons are often denied access to menstrual products. Soaking through their beds and refused clean sheets. As you can imagine, this is a huge issue for trans people who are incarcerated in other ways. 8/

This was a heavy thread. I know. But I wanted to share these words since more and more people are developing a deeper understanding of the violence of the prison system. The maternal health crisis is related to this. Reproductive justice is related to this. /9