Childbirth in Chains: The Movement to End the Shackling of Pregnant Inmates in Maryland

When:
Location:
John and Frances Angelos Law Center
Room:
12th floor
Description:

Across the country, pregnant women suffer undue health risks when they are shackled before, during, and while recovering from labor. In Maryland, handcuffs, leg shackles and belly chains are used to restrain pregnant women during transport and medical appointments. Even during active labor, women and girls incarcerated in Maryland may endure the pain and restricted movement from having their wrists and ankles chained to the rails of the hospital bed. Maryland law does not even require correctional staff to consider input from medical staff when deciding whether to shackle a pregnant woman. Shackling pregnant women is permitted not only in Maryland’s state-run adult and juvenile facilities, but also in local detention centers where women are held awaiting trial, before they have been proven guilty of any crime.
 
Featured speakers include:
 
·       Mary Washington, Maryland Delegate, District 43
·       Toni Holness, Public Policy Associate, ACLU of Maryland
·       Jacqueline Robarge, Founder and Director, Power Inside
 

The panel will be moderated by Leigh Goodmark, Visiting Professor of Law at the University of Maryland Frances King Carey School of Law and Professor of Law, Director of Clinical Education and Co-Director of the Center on Applied Feminism at the University of Baltimore School of Law. Light refreshments will be served following the panel.
 
Read more and sign the statement of opposition at www.stopshacklingmd.org.

Contact Name:
Ellen Cobb
Contact Email:
ellen.cobb@ubalt.edu
Contact Phone:
410.837.4142

Appropriate accommodations for individuals with disabilities will be provided upon request 10 days prior to a campus event and 30 days prior to an event requiring travel.

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