Criminalization of Pregnancy
In 2014, Tammy Loertscher got pregnant. A few years before, her thyroid had been removed. She lost her job. She lost her insurance. Her state, Wisconsin, had turned down the Medicaid expansion associated with the Affordable Care Act. So she didn't have access to meds. So she self-medicated, just to keep herself stable. When she realized she was pregnant, she went to a doctor to help her get back on a better regimen, so she could be healthy for her fetus. Instead, she was arrested. We talk to filmmaker Jo Ardinger about her film, "Personhood," which follows Loertscher's story, and the personhood movement - which posits that a fetus is a person with rights, at the expense of the rights of the mother.
Personhood also shows up in the bizarre use of a law in Alabama intended to keep children safe in their homes. The Meth Lab Law was passed to criminalize people who were, say, cooking meth in their kitchens while their kids were watching TV in the next room. But, according to journalists Nina Martin and Amy Yurkinan, it was immediately used against pregnant women. Lawmakers, Martin told us, defined a "lab where drugs are manufactured" as a woman's womb. Thus, women who took meth, who smoked pot, who took prescription anxiety meds their doctors approved, were arrested - and got hefty sentences - under this law.
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American Dreams: Reproductive Justice is co-executive produced and hosted by Erika Washington, powered by Make It Work Nevada. The podcast is co-executive produced, written, and edited by Carrie Kaufman of Overthinking Media LLC. Music by Wil Black of Black Gypsy Music, with The Flobots. Artwork by Brent Holmes.
