For immediate release
Contact: media@pregnancyjusticeus.org
NEW YORK — Pregnancy Justice, the Southern Poverty Law Center, and Sullivan & Cromwell LLP filed a federal civil rights lawsuit in Alabama on Tuesday on behalf of Tiffany McElroy and her infant daughter. Their rights were violated when a jail cruelly left Ms. McElroy to labor alone for more than 24 hours. Both were only saved by the quick-thinking, courageous detained women who assisted during the labor and delivery while jail staff watched from afar and threatened the women with punishment and violence for helping.
“I’m so grateful that my baby and I are here today, and I owe that to other women because the guards treated me like I was less than nothing. My body was on fire, and I was terrified that I’d never see my other kids again. I barely got to hold her, and I couldn’t even breastfeed,” Ms. McElroy said. “I have nightmares that we both died — and it’s like a part of me did die that day. I’m scared to even get pregnant again. They shouldn’t be allowed to do that to another woman ever again.”
In May 2024, Ms. McElroy was just days into her detention at the Houston County Jail in Dothan, Alabama, for a pregnancy-related charge when her water broke. Ms. McElroy, who has a history of preterm labor and was in her third trimester, pleaded to be taken to a hospital, but the guards ignored her. She was left slipping in and out of consciousness from excruciating pain.
Over the course of more than 24 hours of labor, Ms. McElroy was assisted by other detained women who also begged the guards to help, but they were met with threats of lockdown, being written up, or being tased. As Ms. McElroy’s contractions slowed and her pregnancy began to exhibit signs of distress, the women stepped in to deliver the newborn. When Baby B.T. was finally born, limp and blue, the women resuscitated the baby. No jail staff offered Ms. McElroy or Baby B.T. immediate assistance, and Ms. McElroy became unresponsive.
Guards eventually placed Ms. McElroy in a wheelchair and transported her and Baby B.T. to a hospital, where Ms. McElroy stayed for three days before being returned to the jail, and Baby B.T. was placed in the neonatal intensive care unit. Ms. McElroy was diagnosed with anemia from acute blood loss and a potentially deadly infection.
After the delivery, a guard told the women, “Y’all should’ve pushed that motherfucking baby back in.” The jail also punished the women on the cell block. They were not allowed outside, were only allowed to leave their bunks to use the bathroom, were not permitted to attend religious services, and their phone privileges were revoked.
“Tiffany endured a truly sickening act of sociopathic depravity that no pregnant woman should have to – jailed or not. It was torture, and it happened while jail staff watched. Shamefully, Tiffany is not alone in her experience in Alabama or across the country, where, as research and plain facts show, jails and prisons are regularly used as deeply inadequate substitutes for health care – from OB-GYNs to sober-support services,” said Karen Thompson, legal director at Pregnancy Justice. “Alabama jails more women than any other state for ‘endangering their pregnancies,’ but it allows pregnant women and their newborns to face unimaginable cruelty during labor and delivery behind those same bars.”
“No one should be forced to endure what Ms. McElroy experienced — laboring alone, in severe pain, and without medical assistance while in government custody,” said Amanda Davidoff, deputy managing partner of Sullivan & Cromwell LLP’s Litigation Group. “The law requires humane treatment and access to necessary care, yet those basic protections were denied here. We are proud to stand with Ms. McElroy in seeking justice and meaningful change.”
The federal lawsuit allows Ms. McElroy and Baby B.T. to sue for violations of their constitutional rights and names Houston County, the Houston County Commission, the Houston County sheriff, and more than a dozen jail staff as defendants. Among other claims, the suit asserts violations of Ms. McElroy’s and Baby B.T.’s 14th Amendment rights through deliberate indifference to their serious medical needs. The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages.
Ms. McElroy’s treatment was not an isolated incident. The Houston County Jail has a long, documented history of pregnant and postpartum women receiving unconstitutionally inadequate medical care. This includes denials of access to outside medical providers, even in emergency situations; denials of regular prenatal care; denials of prescription medications; denials of breast pumps; and ignoring jailed women’s medical care grievances. Alabama continues to lead the nation in jailing pregnant and postpartum women for pregnancy-related criminal charges.
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Pregnancy Justice advances and defends the rights of pregnant people, no matter if they give birth, experience a pregnancy loss, or have an abortion. No one should lose their rights because of pregnancy.