Can you imagine a woman in labor and in handcuffs? It is difficult, but this unusual experience and close to torture was very real to a Mexican woman who was imprisoned in 2009 took wives before and after a cesarean delivery before the indifference of the agents and the attack against the basic medical needs of women in this situation.
Thanks to the denunciation of women, years later, of those responsible for this situation that violates their rights, a new law has just been signed in Arizona (United States) for which pregnant women who are held in prisons may not be handcuffed neither at the time nor after giving birth.
This prohibits the use of handcuffs or any other type of object that restricts movement in the wrists or legs of women during their transport, delivery and recovery. With this legislation, Arizona joins 14 other states in the country to ban this practice, which leaves dozens of states without legislation.
The Union of Civil Liberties of the United States (ACLU) has welcomed this news, although they demand more progress and a generalization of the measure. And, if there is no law that prohibits the use of wives in jailed pregnant women, each prison and police agency establishes its own rules.
The civil rights defense organization argues that restricting a pregnant woman can be dangerous to the health of the mother and her child, and during childbirth it is not precisely about favoring her freedom of movement or facilitating her to adopt the most comfortable position. And it will not be because there is a risk of escape in full birth ...
Over the rights of women in prison and their children We can read this interesting publication of Quaker United Nations Office where we talk about the violence that many of these women still suffer in prisons around the world.
What irony, the laws have taken them to jail but there are legal gaps that leave them defenseless and in danger before situations of this kind.
Respect for the basic rights of women (and their health, or that of their children) should be safeguarded in any field and the fact that you can no longer handcuff a pregnant or childbirth woman In Arizona it is good news, although we discover that it is an exception in a world barely legislated about it.
