GEOFF BENNETT: A federal civil rights lawsuit is raising concerns about the treatment of pregnant inmates at an Alabama jail and the potential harm to their unborn children, whom the law claims to protect.
Stephanie Sy has more.
STEPHANIE SY: Ashley Caswell was arrested in March 2021 after law enforcement said she'd tested positive for methamphetamines.
She was two months' pregnant.
The rest of her pregnancy was spent at Etowah County Detention Center in Alabama, where she says she gave birth in a jail shower without any medical help.
A lawsuit filed by the advocacy group Pregnancy Justice alleges that, leading up to the birth, Caswell was denied regular access to prenatal visits, forced to sleep on a thin mat on a concrete floor.
And during 12 hours of labor, the suit says staff gave her only Tylenol for pain.
The suit claims Caswell's story represents a disturbing pattern of inhumane treatment at the jail.
For a closer look, I'm joined now by Dana Sussman, deputy executive director for Pregnancy Justice.
Dana, thank you for joining the "NewsHour."
What I just listed earlier doesn't even begin to describe what Caswell said she experienced.
How dangerous was that shower delivery for her and her baby?
And how are they doing now?
DANA SUSSMAN, Deputy Executive Director, Pregnancy Justice: Well, thank you so much for having me.
Ms. Caswell endured 12 hours of unassisted, unmedicated labor and later learned that she had a placental abruption, which is incredibly painful and causes significant blood loss.
In fact, she labored and asked for help repeatedly and repeatedly and was denied.
She didn't even give birth in the jail's medical facility.
She was accompanied to the shower and refused help even while she stood and knew that the baby was coming.
Only when she believed she was going to pass out from the blood loss did an Etowah County Jail staff person catch the baby.
And then Ms. Caswell passed out on the floor of the shower and continued to bleed significantly.
Eventually, she made -- she was brought to the hospital, where she needed several iron transfusions because of her blood loss.
And when she gave birth and lost consciousness, the Etowah County Jail officials or staff members who were with her took her baby and proceeded to take pictures with her baby while Ms. Caswell was undressed, regaining consciousness and continuing to bleed.
So, the inhumane treatment that Ms. Caswell experienced shocks the conscience.
And we filed the lawsuit, along with our partners, the Southern Poverty Law Center and the law firm of Sullivan & Cromwell, to seek redress for the harms and the trauma that Ms. Caswell endured.
Ms. Caswell is in Tutwiler, women's prison in Alabama, so she remains incarcerated, but she is overwhelmed by the support that she's received and the legal team that is behind her and the other women that have come forward and shared their experiences at Etowah County Jail.
STEPHANIE SY: How many other women have similar stories from that facility?
DANA SUSSMAN: We have identified three other women in the three years leading up to Ms. Caswell's labor that experienced similar treatment when it came to laboring without care, including one who gave birth in the jail just the year prior, and another who tragically lost her baby because her water broke.
And she was not transported to the hospital for five days, and then later delivered a stillborn baby.
So, we know that this is a pattern.
And we also know of dozens of other women who have experienced mistreatment in the jail, anything from lack of postnatal care after delivery to lack of mental health services and treatment and the medication that they are prescribed.
So the harms in this jail and the mistreatment and the rights violations are vast and yearslong.
STEPHANIE SY: Following reporting from al.com on this, the jail said last year it no longer detains pregnant women awaiting trial on these endangerment laws.
What else do you hope to gain from this lawsuit?
DANA SUSSMAN: Well, I just want to clarify that the DA's office has shifted its bond policy.
The bond conditions at Etowah County Jail for women who were charged with chemical endangerment of a child -- and by the way, this is a law that does not mention pregnancy -- was passed by the legislature not intended to apply to pregnancy, but has since been used by counties in Alabama to target pregnant women.
And, in fact, Etowah County targets more pregnant women than any other county in the state; 93 percent of chemical endangerment charges in Etowah County are of women.
The vast majority are of mothers.
But what we hope to achieve with this lawsuit is, first, redress.
We're seeking damages for Ms. Caswell's experience.
Of course, money doesn't change what happened to her, but that is the form of redress that the law allows.
We want to continue to shine a light on the inhumane human rights violations that are occurring in the Etowah County Jail.
And we want the jail to change its practices.
If Etowah County is going to incarcerate or detain more pregnant people than almost any other county in the country that we know of, they need to take care of those.
They have an obligation, a legal and constitutional obligation, to provide medical care to those pregnant and postpartum women.
STEPHANIE SY: Dana Sussman with the group Pregnancy Justice, thanks so much for joining us.
DANA SUSSMAN: Thank you for having me.