Every year there are 58,000 pregnant people entering jails and prisons, along with the almost 225,000 women and girls held in local jails, juvenile centers, state and federal prisons. For the most part, pregnant people in correctional facilities don’t have access to abortion services. Advocates and government officials must add explicit protections for people seeking abortion services while incarcerated.
Author: Janet Garcia-Hallett
Janet Garcia-Hallett has a Ph.D. in criminal justice and is an assistant professor in the Henry C. Lee College of Criminal Justice and Forensic Sciences at the University of New Haven. Her forthcoming book Invisible Mothers: Unseen Yet Hypervisible after Incarceration explores how mothers of color navigate motherhood after incarceration.