Did you know that pregnant women are being forced to undergo unwanted and unneeded medical procedures?

Pregnant women have been forced to undergo serious unwanted medical procedures, including Caesarean sections.

  • Pregnant people face criminalization for refusing medical interventions, such as unwanted C-sections, even when there is no proven danger to themselves or their pregnancy.
  • C-sections can be life-saving, but in the U.S., a majority are avoidable. According to the CDC, nearly 33% of infants in the US are delivered via C-section, well above the 10%-19% rate the World Health Organization says that most countries should have.
  • Often in cases of forced compliance, the recommended medical procedure was the wrong approach. As the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) noted,

“In almost one third of cases in which court orders were sought, the medical judgment, in retrospect, was incorrect.”

Such was the case in Pennsylvania where a hospital got a court order to perform a C-section on an unwilling woman. The woman left the hospital and delivered her baby vaginally at another hospital with no complications. 

“Even in the face of documented incorrect medical assessments, the medical establishment continues to force compliance for medical procedures instead of respecting a pregnant person’s right to refuse medical treatment.  Both the American Academy of Pediatrics and ACOG condemn the practice of forced procedures for the benefit of the fetus: “Even the strongest evidence for fetal benefit would not be sufficient ethically to ever override a pregnant woman’s decision to forgo fetal treatment.” 

Pregnant women should be able to refuse medical treatment just like anyone else, and have the same assurances as any other citizen that they can receive necessary healthcare without fear of criminalization when visiting a medical facility.

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