The New York State Senate on Tuesday passed a piece of prison reform legislation that aims to promote the “health, safety, and human rights of incarcerated pregnant individuals, incarcerated birthing parents of children and their children.”
If signed into law, the Compassion and Reproductive Equity (CARE) Act would require basic care for pregnant and postpartum incarcerated people and their children. The legislation aims to implement more comprehensive healthcare requirements for labor and delivery, timely access to medication, and adequate access to water and food as recommended by a physician.
State Senator Julia Salazar (D-Brooklyn), the chair of the Committee on Crime Victims, Crime and Correction, released a statement on Tuesday commending the passage of the bill. The bill amends Section 611 of state correction law regarding births by incarcerated individuals and care of incarcerated individuals’ children.
“All infants and their mothers, including those behind bars, deserve access to basic healthcare,” Salazar wrote. “Yet New York’s prisons and jails continuously deny incarcerated pregnant individuals adequate prenatal care, post-partum care, and care for their babies.”
A 2016 study published in the National Library of Medicine found that 46% of pregnant incarcerated individuals reported receiving no prenatal care while in custody. The lack of prenatal care increases the risk of infant mortality, premature birth, and NICU placement, Salazar noted in her statement.
Salazar and advocates of the legislation have argued that New York has historically failed to provide adequate access to care to incarcerated pregnant people, and that current law must be stronger to ensure that the health and human rights of incarcerated pregnant individuals are protected by the state.
“The CARE Act is a step to break these harmful patterns, achieve reproductive justice, and ensure incarcerated pregnant people and their babies are treated with dignity,” Salazar wrote.
The bill was partially drafted by students at Cornell University participating in the Brooks School’s State Policy Advocacy Clinic and a nonprofit representing formerly incarcerated parents. Democratic State Senators Jamaal Bailey, Jabari Brisport, Samra Brouk, and Cordell Cleare sponsor it.
The state Senate amended the bill to include gender-neutral language in reference to pregnant individuals rather than use of the words “woman,” “man,” “her,” or “his.”
