A new federal bill aims to protect pregnant women held in prisons and jails

The proposed legislation follows an investigation by Bloomberg Law and NBC News that found mistreatment of pregnant women in local jails.

This article was published in partnership with Bloomberg Law.

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A California congresswoman is proposing sweeping changes to the treatment of incarcerated pregnant women in a bill introduced Thursday, part of a growing effort to correct systemic failures that put mothers’ and babies’ lives at risk in lockups around the country.

The bill sponsored by U.S. Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove, a Democrat, would mandate stronger protections for pregnant women and require tracking of pregnancies behind bars. The bill, an updated version of a measure she introduced in 2023, was motivated in part by an investigation last year by Bloomberg Law and NBC News that found mistreatment of pregnant women in jails.