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LINK Pregnant Alabama Women Held in Etowah County Jail for Months to ‘Protect’ Fetus, Report Says

A number of women in Alabama accused of using drugs while pregnant were held in a jailhouse for weeks or months, left in limbo after failing to qualify for special bond conditions, according to a Wednesday report from AL.com. After she was arrested for carrying a small amount of marijuana and a firearm without a permit, 23-year-old Ashley Banks was brought to the Etowah County Jail. Having admitted to smoking pot on the same day she found out she was pregnant, Banks languished in the jail for months, with overcrowding forcing her to sleep on the floor despite a high-risk pregnancy. In order to bond out, Banks was told she would have to enter drug rehab—but specialists who evaluated her found twice that she didn’t qualify for drug addiction services. State investigators pressured her to confess to a nonexistent addiction; when she wouldn’t, she was left “incarcerated indefinitely,” according to Banks’ petition for release. An Etowah County judge released her to community corrections on Aug. 25. There have been more than 150 similar “chemical endangerment” cases in Etowah County since 2010, according to National Advocates for Pregnant Women.

snytiger6 9 Sep 8
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6 comments

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1

She should sue the bastards for cruel bs.

2

The idea is to incarcerate them until the opportunity for an abortion is gone.

2

Seems once you are pregnant you have no rights. Next thing you know pregnant women will have to check-in to an approved, strictly controlled facility for the duration.

Yeah, I can see conservatives jailing pregnant women who simply don't want to be pregnant to prevent them from going to where abortions are legal.

2

Welcome to Republican Nirvana!

1

I hope they get sued bigtime. That is simply kidnapping if not enslavement.

The suit won't go anywhere as the state has repressive laws that the courts will point to. Possibly if someone dies, but aside from that it's Alabama. Possibly, if a group like the ACLU, et al got involved and challenged the very nature of the laws themselves since the women aren't getting the proper medical attention.

4

This is something the Southern Poverty Law Center ought to address ASAP, if they're not already!

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