[R-G] Women Don't Leave Their Privacy Rights at the Jailhouse Door

[Yoshie Furuhashi]

Women Don't Leave Their Privacy Rights at the Jailhouse Door
By Bean , Lawyers, Guns and Money
Posted on January 30, 2008, Printed on January 30, 2008
http://www.alternet.org/bloggers/http://lefarkins.blogspot.com//75395/

It's not often that I get to write about good news with regard to the
American criminal (in)justice system. But today is one of those rare
days.

Late last week, the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a Missouri
District Court's holding that the state prison system is required to
provide transportation for pregnant incarcerated women who want
abortions <http://www.kansascity.com/115/story/456560.html>. The
decision overturns Governor Matt Blunt's policy of denying pregnant
inmates access to abortion services by refusing to transport them to
St. Louis for the procedure. (About 7% of incarcerated women are
pregnant at the time of their sentencing; many more become pregnant
during their incarceration by guards who sexually assault and rape
them or by intimate partners who visit).

While the 8th Circuit rejected the district court's finding that the
policy amounted to cruel & unusual punishment, the court affirmed the
district court's holding that Gov. Blunt's policy violated the
constitutional rights of women inmates by placing an undue burden on
their right to abortion. As the lawyer who represented the
pseudonymous plaintiff (together with the ACLU
<http://www.aclu.org/reproductiverights/abortion/33752prs20080122.html>)
explained, "abortion is not a right that is lost at the jailhouse
door."

How true. My challenge to so-called pro-life governors like Gov. Blunt
who don't like having to provide access to abortion for their
incarcerated women: show us you actually have a modicum of concern
about life (and not just the politics of it) and ban the use of
shackles on pregnant and laboring women.

Bean is a third-year law student in New York City. Her blogging
focuses on the intersections of criminal justice, reproductive rights,
gender equality, and drug policy.

(c) 2008 Independent Media Institute. All rights reserved.
View this story online at:
http://www.alternet.org/bloggers/http://lefarkins.blogspot.com//75395/

--
Yoshie
<http://montages.blogspot.com/>