Cardozo Journal of Equal Rights & Social Justice
Abstract
The use of shackles to restrain a pregnant woman during the birthing process is a barbaric practice that needlessly inflicts excruciating pain and humiliation. It is widely condemned by members of the international community, including leading medical and public health associations. Although human rights advocates have effected significant policy change in the past ten years to eliminate the use of shackles on women in labor, it remains routine practice in many American prisons and jails. Reproductive rights advocates should consider this a reproductive justice issue and build on the gains of the human rights community to bring legal claims challenging such practices. Part I of this article applies the reproductive justice framework to this issue. Part II explains how human rights advocates have utilized international human rights law to effect change in the United States. Part III discusses the remedies that exist under U.S. law for women who have been-or are threatened with being-shackled during the birthing process.
Disciplines
Courts | Law | Law and Gender | Law Enforcement and Corrections
Recommended Citation
Dana Sussman,
Bound by Injustice: Challenging the Use of Shackles on Incarcerated Pregnant Women,
15
Cardozo J. Equal Rts. & Soc. Just.
477
(2009).
Available at:
https://larc.cardozo.yu.edu/cardozoersj/vol15/iss3/3