Good news from Missouri, where a federal district judge ruled last week that the state is required to provide transportation to women prisoners seeking to exercise their legal right to an abortion. Transportation is a critical detail, since both state women's prisons are over two hours away from the nearest abortion provider, and to the best of my knowledge, incarcerated women (35 to 50 of whom are pregnant in any given month in Missouri) can't exactly hop in a cab when they need healthcare. In honor of the ruling, I want to devote a little space to the reproductive rights of female prisoners in the United States, a topic first brought to my attention by the incredible women of Justice NOW, an Oakland-based organization that "works with female prisoners and local communities to build a safe, compassionate world without prisons."

It would be nice to live in a world like that. Or, failing that, it would be nice to live in a world where prisons were safe and compassionate places for the two million Americans currently living in them. Sadly, this country's huge incarcerated population-whose needs and realities are often invisible even on the agendas of movements and organizations otherwise fighting for social justice-faces widespread human rights violations, and scarce access to healthcare. And since women don't check their reproductive systems at the door when they enter prisons, the criminal justice system's criminally unjust disregard for reproductive health can wind up affecting the rest of women's lives.

Although the 175,000 women currently behind bars make up less than 10 percent of total prisoners in the United States (the world leader in incarceration, by the way), the female prison population has increased seven-fold since 1980, and women's incarceration rates are currently growing at least twice as fast as men's. Incarcerated women are primarily women of color (between 60 and 80 percent are African-American), and most are serving sentences for nonviolent drug- or property-related offenses.

According to the latest figures from the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics, five percent of women entering state prisons are pregnant. Between 48 and 88 percent of women inmates experienced sexual or physical abuse before coming to prison, and many continue to experience it once inside, where sexual harassment and violence are widespread. In 2004, allegations of prison staff sexual misconduct (on average, 41 percent of guards in women's prisons are men) were made in all but one state prison in the country. Full body cavity searches, which often involve unnecessary groping, are a daily occurrence. On the health front, women are often denied screening and treatment for reproductive cancers, medical attention in the event of pregnancy-related complications (such as late-term miscarriages), and antiretroviral treatment for HIV/AIDS. Women who enter prisons already pregnant or who are impregnated once inside (in many cases, by guards) and who choose to carry their pregnancies to term can look forward to giving birth IN SHACKLES: all federal and almost all state prisons in this country make it a policy to shackle women during labor and delivery.

In this context, it's not surprising that some incarcerated women in Missouri are opting for abortion. After Tuesday's ruling, it's a comfort to know that at least they will have that option. But it's important to remember that when it comes to reproductive justice for women inside prisons, abortion is just the tip of the iceberg.

For more information:

Justice Denied: Violations of Women's Reproductive Rights in the United States Prison System

All Too Familiar: Sexual Abuse of Women in U.S. State Prisons

Prisons Often Shackle Pregnant Inmates in Labor (New York Times)