Are Pregnant Women Losing Their Rights?

by Jen Nedeau

category: Motherhood

Published July 30, 2009 @ 11:49AM PT

Check out this piece by Louise Marie Roth on Huffington Post about a recent court case titled: New Jersey Division of Youth and Family Services v. V.M. and B.G, in which a mid-level court of appeals in New Jersey avoided deciding on the question of whether or not a pregnant woman's decisions during labor and childbirth may be the basis for a finding, under state civil child welfare laws, of abuse and neglect.

According to the National Advocates for Pregnant Women, "the decision is a victory of sorts, it nevertheless reveals how extraordinarily unsettled and contested pregnant women's rights are" and Roth points out just how dangerous it is to try to make court rulings against the rights of pregnant women:

The court's opinion also suggests that lawmakers have no concept of what it is like to be in labor. Women in labor tend to find themselves on a different mental plane, where they have to focus inward and work with their bodies to give birth. As midwives know, some women become belligerent. Some seek privacy and seclusion. Most women in labor are likely to find the routine and usually unnecessary procedures of hospitals to be invasive and unwelcome. Yet the courts that decided this case didn't seem to be aware that women are unlikely to behave the same way when they are in labor as when they aren't. The decision cites hospital records that describe the mother, V.M., as "combative," "uncooperative," "erratic," "noncompliant," "irrational" and "inappropriate." Also, her husband indicated that the way she was acting was not her "normal manner and that she is not as 'tranquil.'" Why would anyone expect a woman in labor to be compliant, tranquil, or rational? What kinds of expectations does our society have for women undergoing a powerful physiological process, often with an absurd amount of poking, prodding and general interference? This mother was uncooperative with hospital staff, but clearly her uncooperativeness had nothing to do with the well-being of her baby.

Yikes.  Once again, I ask - what will it take to truly trust women?

You can view a pdf of the decision here.