After spearheading an inquiry on abuse of pregnant women in Georgia prisons and jails, Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA) has introduced a bipartisan bill in the Senate intended to protect their rights.
Over the summer, Ossoff, chair of the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Human Rights, convened a series of hearings on the abuse of pregnant women in Georgia state prisons and jails.
During the hearings, numerous Georgia women testified to shocking abuse of pregnant women in Georgia’s prisons and jails.
Now, both Ossoff and Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) have recently introduced the bipartisan Births in Custody Reporting Act, a piece of legislation that looks to strengthen federal oversight of pregnancy care in prisons and jails.
The bill, if approved, would require states to report statistical information regarding pregnancy care and outcomes for individuals in custody to the U.S. Attorney General. That data also would include the number of pregnant individuals in custody, their length of stay in custody, pregnancy outcomes, and whether births took place inside the facility or at a hospital.
Under the proposed legislation, states that fail to provide the requested data to the U.S. Attorney General could face up to a 10% reduction in federal funding.
“The humanitarian crisis behind bars in the State of Georgia and across the United States is one of the most extreme civil rights problems happening in the country today,” Ossoff said. “As part of my sustained work to safeguard human rights, I’m introducing this bipartisan bill to better protect pregnant women in prisons and jails in Georgia and nationwide.”
Ossoff said his investigation uncovered pervasive abuse of pregnant women in prison, including women who were forced to undergo C-sections against their will, pregnant women who were shackled around their stomachs (despite the practice being widely illegal already), and women who gave birth unassisted while imprisoned.
In one account, a Georgia woman testified that she was forced to give birth into her underwear at Clayton County Jail, despite testifying that she pleaded for months for medical assistance.
