FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May 9, 2022.
For media inquiries, please contact:
Mary McNamara of Swanson & McNamara LLP, Mary@smllp.law; Pregnancy Justice, media@advocatesforpregnantwomen.org; and ACLU of Northern California, press@aclunc.org
After four years in prison, Adora Perez's murder charge for experiencing a stillbirth has been dropped.
Pregnancy Justice Staff Attorney Samantha Lee testified in support of a California bill that will ensure that no one in the State of California will be prosecuted for ending a pregnancy or experiencing pregnancy loss. In her testimony, Ms. Lee shared a statement from Pregnancy Justice's client, Chelsea Becker, who was charged with murder for experiencing a stillbirth in Kings County, California.
Last week, the Arizona Court of Appeals reversed the Arizona Department of Child Safety’s decision to place Lindsay R. on its child abuse and neglect Central Registry for 25 years for using legally prescribed marijuana to treat her hyperemesis gravidarum (HG), a condition that causes severe nausea and vomiting and can endanger the life of the pregnant woman and her pregnancy.
On March 18, 2022, a judge in Kings County, California reversed Adora Perez's guilty plea and vacated her 11-year sentence, sending the case back to the trial court for new proceedings. In 2018, Adora Perez, poorly advised by her court-appointed counsel, pleaded no contest to voluntary manslaughter of her fetus, a crime that doesn't exist in California.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: February 23, 2022
On February 22, 2022, the District Attorney in Lauderdale County, AL dropped an unprecedented felony charge for Unlawful Possession or Receipt of Controlled Substances (“Unlawful Possession”) against Kimberly Blalock, a mother of six.
Contact Northwell Health and ask them to resolve Rinat Dray’s case and to take steps to ensure pregnant patients are never again forced to undergo medical procedures without consent.
Background:
Rinat Dray was pregnant with her third child in 2011, and after two cesarean surgeries, she was committed to finding a provider who would be open to the possibility of, and respect her desire for, a Vaginal Birth After Cesarean (VBAC). She chose Northwell Health’s Staten Island University Hospital (SIUH). Despite advertising itself as a VBAC-friendly hospital, Ms. Dray’s birth experience at SIUH was even worse than her previous ones.
On behalf of Pregnancy Justice, we respectfully submit this written testimony in opposition to Senate Bill 216. We are a non-partisan legal advocacy organization dedicated to the welfare of pregnant people and their families. Our testimony draws on over 20 years of work on cases in which state actors intervened in a pregnant woman’s medical decision-making or punished a pregnant or postpartum woman and her family on the basis of something she may have or may not have done while pregnant.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: February 3, 2022
CHICAGO – On January 28, 2022, Pregnancy Justice and the ACLU of Illinois filed a charge of discrimination against Saint Alexius hospital with the Illinois Department of Human Rights for a discriminatory, non-consensual drug test of a first-time mother, Ms. F., before she went into labor.
On January 24, 2022, Pregnancy Justice submitted written testimony in opposition to South Carolina’s proposed abortion ban, S.988. The so-called “Equal Protection for Unborn Babies Act” is a trigger ban, meaning it would go into effect immediately if the U.S. Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade, in part or whole.
December, 2021
In April 2021, Arizona enacted Senate Bill 1457, which broadens the entire Arizona criminal and civil code such that every mention of “person” or “child” includes “an unborn child at every stage of development.” This so-called “Personhood Provision” provides the grounds for state actors in Arizona including prosecutors and child welfare authorities to treat the fertilized eggs, embryos, and fetuses inside of pregnant women as whole persons with independent rights.
