She was jailed for endangering her "unborn child", turns out she wasn't pregnant

[ck4829]

An Alabama woman who was jailed for allegedly using drugs while pregnant wasn’t even pregnant—and was locked up for three days before even being allowed to take a pregnancy test, per a Monday report in AL.com.

Stacey Freeman, had been under investigation by the county Department of Human Resources for alleged substance use after one of her young children told a social worker their mom was pregnant. Without any medical confirmation, Etowah County Sheriff Investigator Brandi Fuller issued a warrant for Freeman’s arrest for chemical endangerment of a child, and Freeman was booked into the Etowah County Detention Center on Feb. 1.

Not only was Freeman very much not pregnant, the lawsuit states, but she was on her period, and while jailed, she was denied access to feminine hygiene products. According to a previous report from AL.com, another woman, also jailed for alleged substance use while pregnant, was arrested just days after giving birth, and her boyfriend told the outlet she wasn’t even given “panties or pads” and “was stuffing paper towels or toilet paper in her pants to stop the bleeding.”

When Freeman was released, her lawsuit states that instead of apologizing, Fuller warned her to not get pregnant, or she could face additional charges.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/alabama-woman-jailed-using-drugs-220500094.html

I've even been told here that saying law enforcement will be this eager to have women meeting the business end of "law and order" because they're not guys running into schools with AR-15s is overreacting... and yet, here we are.

[PatSeg]

1. My god, that is horrifying

Sadly not surprising however.

[TreasonousBastard]

2. America, what a country.

[secondwind]

3. Yikes!

I smell a lawsuit here….

[Ziggysmom]

4. Holy crap. The red states have become just like oppressive third world countries!

But that’s how the GQP conservatives like it; fundamentally they are the North Koreas of the US.
Hope these mistreated women file suit and cause a lot of pain for these assholes. We need stories like these spread far and wide so folks will vote like their life depends on it - because it really does!

[markodochartaigh]

7. North Korea is an authoritarian state

the Confederate States of America was an authoritarian state, Russia is an authoritarian state. The 80% of the Republican party who still supported Trump after January 6 are authoritarians. The Iranian mullahs who cooperated with Reagan's henchmen after the Shah was deposed were authoritarians. No matter whether they are atheists or which god they say that they worship, the only gods that authoritarians worship are money and power.

[Lucinda]

5. This happened back in Feb - article also talks about cases in Sept

[Iris]

6. Witch hunt

[DFW]

8. I wish we could enact some law to make this kind of thing a federal crime

It should carry a long, obligatory prison sentence for arresting officers and any DA signing the warrant.

[Arazi]

16. Women should be given the $$ and opportunity to leave these states

Companies should offer female employees the opportunity and funds to relocate. Women should vote with their feet - it’s the only way to wake up these medieval assholes.

It’s going to take bigger pressure than leaning on law enforcement (which will never happen anyway)

[uponit7771]

9. This shit gets ghoulish, these people are oppressors and revel in it

[Celerity]

14. +1000

[barbtries]

10. I don't want to put a foot in Alabama.

I feel for the women and Democrats who live there, it seems like a hellhole out of the early 1860s.

I hope she ends up richer than any one of the disgusting men who tormented her.

[Ilsa]

11. Time for a lawsuit to stop this crazy shit.

I don't know how or what, but being told not to get pregnant is an offshoot of "must carry to term" b.s. A bunch of us have stated that if you give government the right to force you to stay pregnant, then you are effectively giving govt the right to tell you that you can't.

[Elwood P Dowd]

12. It's also time for the US DOJ to investigate these crooks, starting with Brandi Fuller.

What they are doing is against federal law.

[Judi Lynn]

13. Can't imagine how she could endure that treatment. She's heroic for not flipping out.

A group should take up her experience and raise holy hell about it.

Alabama shouldn't be able to escape without a public admission, apology, and action to make some kind of restitution to Ms. Freeman, as if they could even begin to repay their moral debt to her.

Thank god this story is getting aired publicly.

[Karma13612]

15. Fuller warns her: "Don't get pregnant"????? In Alabama????

What happens if she does???? Then she can’t get an abortion ffs.

This is horror magnified. It’s completely utterly insane and stupid and cruel.

What do they want women to do??????!!!!!!!!