Arrests of and Forced Interventions on Pregnant Women in the United States, 1973–2005: Implications

[littlemissmartypants]

Just ran across this in my reading.

Why doesn't my body deserve the HEALTHCARE it requires?

Oops, I forgot, I am a woman.

Abstract

In November 2011, the citizens of Mississippi voted down Proposition
26, a “personhood” measure that sought to establish separate constitutional rights
for fertilized eggs, embryos, and fetuses. This proposition raised the question of
whether such measures could be used as the basis for depriving pregnant women
of their liberty through arrests or forced medical interventions. Over the past four
decades, descriptions of selected subsets of arrests and forced interventions on pregnant
women have been published. Such cases, however, have never been systematically
identified and documented, nor has the basis for the deprivations of liberty been
comprehensively examined. In this article we report on 413 cases from 1973 to 2005
in which a woman’s pregnancy was a necessary factor leading to attempted and actual
deprivations of a woman’s physical liberty. First, we describe key characteristics of
the cases and the women, including socioeconomic status and race. Second, we investigate
the legal claims made to justify the arrests, detentions, and forced interventions.
Third, we explore the role played by health care providers. We conclude by discussing
the implications of our findings and the likely impact of personhood measures on
pregnant women’s liberty and on maternal, fetal, and child health.

[/blockquote



http://jhppl.dukejournals.org/content/38/2/299.full.pdf+html?sid=b0811f36-d4e4-4b51-a830-e175e6eee40c