Power

Wombs Are Not Meth Labs—but Some Prosecutors Treat Them the Same

Tara Hollingshead is the latest victim of overzealous prosecutors who use laws to jail people for bad pregnancy outcomes.

Handcuffs showing a sonogram and bottle of pills
Tara Hollingshead was sentenced to 12 years in prison because her baby tested positive for fentanyl after birth. Austen Risolvato/Rewire News Group illustration

The criminalization of pregnancy won’t stop happening. Pregnancy is dangerous enough as it is, but increasingly the threat of incarceration will make it more dangerous.

In this episode of Boom! Lawyered, co-hosts Jessica Mason Pieklo and Imani Gandy discuss the surveillance state that conservative lawmakers are creating. It’s real. It’s not just the bounty hunter laws where neighbors are rewarded for snitching on each other. They’re also getting nurses to snitch on patients. It’s using the criminal justice system to police pregnancy—and it’s going to get worse.

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