Sexual Health Week: Wellness Within Calls to End Incarceration of Pregnant People
In recognition of Sexual Health Week, Wellness Within calls for an end to the incarceration of pregnant people.
While several countries (including Sweden, Iceland, Norway, Italy, Russia, China, Kazakhstan, and Algeria) have taken measures to keep pregnant women and primary caregivers of young children out of prisons, in Nova Scotia, women make up 15% of provincially incarcerated people, and most incarcerated women are mothers (Paynter et al., 2022). Nationally, Canadian research shows that over 80% of incarcerated women have given birth and have an average of four children.
Incarceration is associated with serious psychological, physical, and social harms for pregnant people and primary caregivers of young children, and for the children themselves. The World Health Organization recommends avoiding separating children from attachment figures in the first three years of life. Despite this, Canadian courts are under no obligation to consider separation from children during sentencing.
Incarcerated pregnant people struggle to access pre- and post-natal care. A recent study of incarcerated pregnant people in Canada found that of 626 pregnancies among incarcerated women, only 30.8% had a first-trimester visit; less than half had the recommended number of prenatal visits; and 34.6% had a first-trimester ultrasound. Incarcerated people also experience exacerbated health risks; the congregate setting of prisons and poor hygiene standards mean that viruses spread quickly. Beginning in 2020, the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on Nova Scotia’s prison system led to major outbreaks (despite high vaccine uptake), further limiting healthcare access through severe reductions in programming such as doula care and other pre-natal services. The harsh impacts of the pandemic continue, and this context complicates the carceral experience for pregnant people.
But the pandemic has also shown some glimmers of hope—during the first wave, Nova Scotia decreased the provincial prison population by 41%, accomplished with the help of community organizations like the Elizabeth Fry Society and the John Howard Society (Iftene, 2021). This experience should serve as a demonstration that decarceration is possible and necessary.
Wellness Within is a volunteer-based registered non-profit organization that serves women, transgender, and nonbinary people who have experienced criminalization and are pregnant or have young children in Nova Scotia, part of the unceded and unsurrendered ancestral territory of the Mi'kmaq people.
Wellness Within supports people through the full spectrum of reproductive health experience; facilitates workshops and education sessions; develops resource materials; and advocates for reproductive justice issues.
Contact: Natasha Hines, Chair, 902-717-2956 or natasha_hines@outlook.com and Dr. Martha Paynter, Director of Research, 9022927082 or martha.paynter@gmail.com