An Alabama woman was imprisoned for ‘endangering’ her fetus. She gave birth in a jail shower

15 years in prison for "endangering a fetus"? Then giving birth only for that child to not have a mommy during childhood, adolescence, and teenage years?

And this is considered good policy by those who create these laws?

wtf

Jesus, what a nightmare story. That entire article is filled with horror. She must have felt so terrified and alone.

"After Caswell delivered her baby alone and lost consciousness, staff still refused to render aid and instead took photos of her baby without her consent, her lawyers allege. When she returned to the jail from the hospital, staff denied her access to her prescribed breast pump and ibuprofen."

Wtf is wrong with people? It's so fucking petty and mean. I'm gonna assume that none of the staff will actually face any consequences..?

But over the next seven months of incarceration for “chemical endangerment” in the Etowah county detention center (ECDC), Caswell was denied regular access to prenatal visits, even as officials were aware her pregnancy was high-risk due to her hypertension and abnormal pap smears, according to a lawsuit filed on Friday against the county and the sheriff’s department. She was also denied her prescribed psychiatric medication and slept on a thin mat on the concrete floor of the detention center for her entire pregnancy.

It’s never been about protecting the fetus, it’s always been about punishing the woman for being a “slut”

Conservatism is a plague of oppression, misery and death. It always has been.

If a conservative can find a way to cause harm, they must do it. That is simply who they are at their core.

This case shows they’re doing precisely the opposite,” said Roth, who said the abuses Caswell endured were tantamount to “torture”.

No, it was full-blown torture. There's no room for interpretation here.

Women across the country have increasingly been jailed for pregnancy outcomes, including miscarriages and stillbirths.

Geez. I don't even know what to say. Miscarriages are way more common than people realize. In fact, it's possible that miscarriages out number full-term pregnancies. There are so many NORMAL biological factors that could trigger a miscarriage.

It's an incredibly complex and nuanced field of biology, and this simplistic mindset of "miscarriage means bad woman" is both disturbing and alarming.

what a "pro-life" move right? letting a mother and a newborn baby almost fucking die in prison

U.S.A. The country where sociopathy is celebrated as a virtue by about half the population.

If you had any doubts, the half is of course mainly Republicans.

Another proud moment for Christianity

I think women should maybe leave these places if they can. I wouldn’t even let a man think about having kids with me if I were a woman in any of those shit states.

If you are a woman, voting republican, you should be fucking ashamed of yourself. This is what this party thinks of you and your kind.

https://www.nbcnews.com/health/womens-health/3-hospitals-closing-maternity-labor-delivery-units-alabama-rcna111374

So they're losing maternity wards and jailing pregnant people. What a shithole.

Addicted to meth? That's jail time. Wait, you're a mother and you're pregnant? That's super jail time, 15 years for you. Have to fuck over your kids' lives as much as possible. You also don't get medical care and you have to give birth in a fungus-infested jail shower. Definitely ethical treatment under law here!

Jesus masturbates to this

Current republicans, probably

It's never been about the children. It has always been about controlling and dehumanizing women as this story so clearly demonstrates.

What about the risk for the mother? Holy shit, she didn't even have access to a basic maternity ward. America is fucked.

Can the baby sue for false imprisonment?

How anyone could vote for any republican is beyond reason. On top of being worthless traitor filth, they actively oppress women and endanger our future generations. Simply unfathomable.

And that's why we don't punish that shit with jail time.

Toss ALL jail employees of the past 7 months in jail for torture, and toss the jailers.for that birth night in jaolmfor torture, and attempted murder of mother and child. I'm heavily against the death penalty but I'd make an exception for these religious fuckers.

Permanently Deleted

Under His Eye

Caswell, who has faced several chemical endangerment charges over the years, is now in state prison, serving a 15-year sentence.

What. The. Fuck. There are men who beat the absolute shit out of their girlfriends and spouses, for the 5th time, sometimes nearly kill them, and never see the inside of a jail cell or any charges at all. Or they get a few months and when they get the cops called on them for beating the shit out of another woman, they don't even get a parole or probation violation. Sometimes women get arrested, bloody with black eyes, while the person who did it walks away with barely a scratch and zero charges. I'm just speaking from personal here, but this happens with tons of other things. Sexual assault specifically. The supreme court just made it legal for people who have been charged with domestic violence to own/buy a fucking gun while out on bail.

I'm not defending using drugs while pregnant, and it's stupid I feel I even have to say that. But this sentence just shows, clear as day, the utter contempt the US has for women. And that the US prison system, and entire criminal justice system, constitutes actual torture - as they said in the article. I'm ashamed be an American, what an absolute Gilead shithole of a country.

The consequences of letting literal illiterates get into power.

Republicans, at least the ones calling the shots, don't give a shit about "the children" and never have. They just care about controlling women. It's sickening.

Well that tracks.

...it exposes the consequences of the “fetal personhood movement”, which seeks to legally define fertilized eggs, embryos and fetuses as people. The concept, enshrined in expanding anti-abortion laws, has led to increased surveillance and criminalization of pregnant people, with women punished for the outcomes of their pregnancies or other actions that police claim endangered their fetuses.

The way the detention staff acted in this is frankly disgusting. That being said, I don't think it is entirely fair to equate Alabama's frankly stupid abortion legislation with assigning a certain level of rights to a foetus. If a mother intends to carry to full term and is using drugs, I don't think it is fair to the foetus-soon-to-be-person to ignore this.

Who here would like to try and explain to a victim of foetal alcohol syndrome or prenatal opioid exposure that their suffering is morally acceptable because their mother had the right to choose?

It doesn't always need to be one extreme or another, there is a middle ground.

Every one cares now.

Where were you when the voting was happening?

Least brain rotted US government:

Fortress has arrived

So… why are the guards not being arrested for child endangerment? Why is this a lawsuit and not a criminal matter?

There is a German proverb: Every people has the government it deserves.

For all those fine upstanding people who soabox about fetal life, this is the world you created for these women and their childfen.

Alabama is a shithole

Break up the union. We don't need the dirty south, I'm only interested in helping refugees flee that hell!

So basically we're throwing women in a pit and throwing stones at them for 'giving men the urge'.

Where was this free world I heard so much about?

To lock her the drug addict to protect fetus is good. To deny mto-be-mother proper conditions and medical care equals to endangering the fetus thus responsible people should be judged as such as well.

I don't think this to be religious question but rather legal question. Mother should sue the hell out of that prison and live from the half of the money ever after. But without drugs. Other half of the money should belong to the kid and used for kid's education etc.

I support some common sense restrictions on abortion... I don't think anyone should be able to just up and demand the death of what is arguably a human life without a good reason.

This is not that, hell it couldn't be anymore obvious that the GOP doesn't care about life or the safety of the child, they just want as many rules on the books as possible to let them punish "Enemies of the party"

I've said it before and I will say it again. This is democracy in action. Her community and loved ones want their society to be that way. If that's what they want, well, it sure doesn't affect me.