The end of Roe is ‘horrific’ for incarcerated people seeking abortion care
Access to abortion care in prison is even more severely limited now that Roe v. Wade has been overturned.
It was already difficult to get an abortion in prison.
From being forced to pay for transportation to far-away abortion providers to waiting for a court order to undergo the procedure, pregnant people behind bars face severely limited access to abortion. Now, the situation is even more dire with the end of the landmark Roe v. Wade.
The Supreme Court on Friday overturned the 1973 case that made abortion legal on a federal level, a decision celebrated by anti-abortion activists. Abortion rights advocates, however, warn that pregnant people in prisons and jails across the country will be forced to continue unwanted pregnancies, facing harsh birthing conditions in prison and sometimes poor prenatal care. Some had previously filed lawsuits to fight for their once-constitutional right to abortion. People incarcerated in states across the country have long had to fight for their right to an abortion, according to Rachel Roth, reproductive justice specialist and scholar with the Center for Women’s Health and Human Rights at Suffolk University in Boston.
For example, in Tennessee, Kei’Choura Cathey alleged the Maury County Sheriff’s Department effectively deprived her of an abortion by refusing her transportation and funding after her arrest in July 2015, according to court documents. According to WTVF, her only option at the time was to post bail — an exorbitant $1 million— to leave jail and undergo the procedure. Sheriff Bucky Rowland held then that he had medical staff look into the situation, and determined that the abortion was “voluntary” and not medically necessary, which meant Cathey would have to cover costs related to the procedure.
Planned Parenthood: U.S. faces ‘public health crisis’ after Roe v. Wade rulingJune 28, 202205:11She was ultimately able to have her bail reduced, but by that point, months later, she was too far along in her pregnancy to get an abortion under state law, WTVF reported. The case was ultimately dismissed, with a judge holding Cathey waited too long to file the suit, according to court records.
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