• Very_Bad_Janet@kbin.social
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    1 year ago

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

    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.

    In October, when her water broke and she pleaded to be taken to a hospital, her lawyer says, officials told her to “sleep it off” and “wait until Monday” to deliver – two days away.

    During nearly 12 hours of labor, staff gave her only Tylenol for her pain, the suit says, allegedly telling her to “stop screaming”, to “deal with the pain” and that she was “not in full labor”. Caswell lost amniotic fluid and blood and was alone and standing up in a jail shower when she ultimately delivered her child, according to the complaint and her medical records. She nearly bled to death, her lawyers say.

    So, jailed for endangering a fetus but not given prenatal care while in jail and forced to give birth in a jail shower when her labor signs were ignored - all of which actually endangers the fetus they are so concerned about. They don’t care about the fetus, they just hate women and want to punish them for having sex. It couldn’t be clearer.

    • Jimmyeatsausage@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      You’re off a few points…since she was at (or near) full term, it was no longer a fetus…it was an actual child. That being the case, the only real way to protect it was by assaulting a trans person or with thoughts and prayers.