What is it about?
A county attorney in the USA (in Montana) has proposed compulsory daily monitoring of pregnant women who drink alcohol or take drugs, on the ground that this is the best way to prevent a baby being born affected by alcohol or drugs. He has also asked members of the public to report any women they know of in this situation, and indicated that women should be incarcerated ‘to incapacitate’ them if they refuse to attend for monitoring.
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Why is it important?
No one doubts that measures should be taken to remove or minimise the risk of harm to an unborn baby – it’s a question of whether this should be treated as a health issue or a legal issue. There are serious concerns that this kind of approach won’t work: partly because there just aren’t the facilities to cope with the anticipated demand, and because there is no evidence that criminalising women has a positive impact. It may discourage women from seeking health advice, or – so some have claimed - even drive some into having unwanted abortions.
Perspectives
In addition to pregnant women being subjected to strict control by the ‘obstetric police’ in some countries, there are concerns that pregnancy is also becoming the focus of law enforcement agencies. Some have suggested that the proposal from Montana echoes Margaret Attwood’s dystopian ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’, set in a future America where women’s rights are severely restricted.
Dr Andrew Symon
University of Dundee
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Threatening incarceration for pregnant women who drink alcohol, British Journal of Midwifery, March 2018, Mark Allen Group,
DOI: 10.12968/bjom.2018.26.3.198.
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