Pregnant women prisons could soon have the chance to delay their sentences until after giving birth. Here’s the news

Pregnant women in Alabama prisons could soon have the chance to delay their sentences until after giving birth if a newly proposed bill becomes law. State Rep. Rolanda Hollis is pushing for this change, arguing that no child should be born behind bars and that pregnant inmates deserve proper care outside of prison walls. With Alabama’s high incarceration and infant mortality rates, this proposal is sparking serious debate. Will the state take a step toward reform, or will the bill face resistance? Here’s what you need to know.

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An Alabama lawmaker has filed a bill that would allow pregnant women sentenced to incarceration in the state to defer their sentences until after the birth of their child.

Alabama State Rep. Rolanda Hollis, a Democrat representing Birmingham, introduced HB138 on Feb. 6. She argued that the bill, if passed, would help both parents and children.

“[The bill would] help children by eliminating the stigma of being born in prison, allowing for a short period of postpartum care, allowing for a child’s rearing to begin at home and not in prison,” Hollis argued to a legislative committee. “It is safer to give birth at home, and safer for a pregnant woman and for the baby for late-term care to occur outside of prison.”

The bill, entitled the Alabama Women’s Childbirth Alternatives, Resources, and Education Act (CARE), provides that each woman is screened for pregnancy upon being admitted to a jail, unless she declines the testing. A woman who tests positive for pregnancy would then be released on bail so long as the court determines she does not pose a significant threat to herself or others.

Under the bill, women who are pregnant at the time of incarceration would be sentenced to pre-incarceration probation to be served until 12 weeks after the woman gives birth, at which point the woman would be required to surrender herself. The time would then be credited to the woman’s sentence and the probation would be served with electronic supervision. Pregnant women would also be required to report any loss of pregnancy and the court would then have discretion as to the timing of a self-surrender for the woman.

The bill provides that failure for a woman to surrender as required would constitute a misdemeanor punishable by up to one year in jail and a $6,000 fine.

According to the National Institutes of Health, over 55,000 pregnant people are incarcerated each year in the U.S. In a 2013 piece published in the American Medical Association ethics journal, Doctors Jennifer G. Clarke and Rachel E. Simon said, “Given the mother’s status as an offender, pregnancy and birth are frequently handled in ways considered unacceptable in any other circumstance,”

“Two aspects of this care deserve particular attention: the shackling of women in labor and the treatment of mothers and newborns after birth,” the doctors continued.

Alabama has a particularly high incarceration rate of 898 per 100,000 people.

“The urgency of this legislation is underscored by the current state of Alabama’s correctional system,” women’s advocacy group RestoreHER said in a statement that also noted that Alabama has one of the highest female incarceration rates in the region and the third-highest infant mortality rate in the country.

Hollis is the same lawmaker who introduced legislation in 2020 requiring every man to get a vasectomy within a month of his 50th birthday or the birth of their third child. The “Forced Vasectomy Bill” did not make it out of committee. Hollis has also spearheaded efforts to end “period poverty” in the Yellowhammer State.

Alabama House of Representatives unanimously passed HB89 on Thursday, which focuses on providing presumptive Medicaid coverage for prenatal care. The bill, introduced by Rep. Marilyn Lands, Democrat representing Huntsville, will now move to the Alabama Senate. If the measure becomes law, the state’s Medicaid obligations would increase by over $1 million per year, over $726,000 of which would be derived from federal funds