"To Prison for Pregnancy," a documentary presented by Brave New Films, discusses how U.S. feticide laws are being used to penalize pregnant women, particularly minority and low-income women.
The documentary notes that feticide is defined as "the act or instance of killing a fetus by assaulting and battering the [pregnant woman]." However, Lynn Paltrow, executive director of National Advocates for Pregnant Women, explains that while states have "passed the feticide laws claiming it has only to do with penalties for battering [partners] who cause a woman to lose a pregnancy that she wanted ... what feticide laws are doing, is policing and punishing the women who become pregnant and try to go to term." According to Paltrow, 38 states have feticide laws.
The documentary highlights cases in which feticide laws have been used against pregnant women with drug use issues and mental illness. For example, the documentary shares the story of Alicia Beltran, a pregnant Wisconsin woman who was punished under a state law (Act 292) after disclosing at a prenatal clinic that she had previously been addicted to Percocet (Brave New Films, accessed 1/21).
