with attempted feticide after she fell down stairs, miscarried, and doctors reported her to police when they misidentified her pregnancy as being in the third trimester .
In 2009, when doctors determined a Florida woman named Samantha Burton was at risk of miscarriage, she was essentially held prisoner at a hospital and forced to undergo an unwanted cesarean procedure. In a similar instance in Utah in 2004, when Melissa Rowland gave birth to twins and one was stillborn, she was arrested for fetal homicide for not going to the hospital sooner.
in a recent amicus brief filed by National Advocates for Pregnant Women to challenge an Arizona fetal personhood law.All of these cases embody how, for doctors—who are mandatory reporters, required by law to report crimes to police—“misunderstanding, confusion about the law, and stigma around pregnancy loss and self-managed abortion” contribute to criminalization, NAPW research associate Purvaja Kavattur told Jezebel.
According to Kavattur, Democratic lawmakers focusing exclusively on digital surveillance of pregnant people should take note and legislate accordingly. “Based on the fact that the criminalization is not actually driven by digital surveillance as the primary starting point, it’s incredibly important for politicians to promote patient privacy and the importance of keeping the health care and carceral systems separate, too.
I have the same obgyn as a lot of my friends (just a weird coincidence but she’s awesome so that’s probably why) and we all independently of each other asked her where she stood on this. She checks out. Definitely recommend making sure your gyno is not a snitch.
first do hella harm
Doctors HIPAA HELLO!! Here is where I'd report the physician.
Fascists depend on the citizens to turn on each other. It can't function without compliance from people and surveillance from regular people.