Speak Out Against Obstetric Violence: Justice for Rinat Dray Toolkit

Contact Northwell Health and ask them to resolve Rinat Dray’s case and to take steps to ensure pregnant patients are never again forced to undergo medical procedures without consent.

Background:

Rinat Dray was pregnant with her third child in 2011, and after two cesarean surgeries, she was committed to finding a provider who would be open to the possibility of, and respect her desire for, a Vaginal Birth After Cesarean (VBAC). She chose Northwell Health’s Staten Island University Hospital (SIUH). Despite advertising itself as a VBAC-friendly hospital, Ms. Dray’s birth experience at SIUH was even worse than her previous ones.

Arrests and Prosecutions of Pregnant People, 1973-2020

In 2013, the Journal of Public Health Law and Policy published Pregnancy Justice's (then National Advocates for Pregnant Women) peer-reviewed study documenting arrests, detentions, and equivalent deprivations of physical liberty of women between 1973 and 2005 in which being pregnant was a necessary element of the crime or a “but for” reason for the coercive or punitive action taken.

Pregnancy Justice Files Brief on Behalf of 45 Organizations, Experts, and Advocates, Including Actor Amy Schumer, in Support of Arizona Mother Found to Have Committed Child Neglect for Legally Using Medical Marijuana to Treat Hyperemesis Gravidarum During Her Pregnancy

Hyperemesis Gravidarum Is a Life-Threatening Pregnancy Condition

For Immediate Release: July 6, 2021

On Friday, July 1, Pregnancy Justice, as lead amici, asked an Arizona Court of Appeals to accept their brief on behalf of 45 leading health organizations, doctors, ethicists, scientific and medical experts, and advocates, including Amy Schumer, in support of Lindsay R., a mother found guilty of civil child neglect and placed on Arizona’s Child Abuse Central Registry because she used medical marijuana while pregnant pursuant to a valid medical certification and suffered from acute hyperemesis gravidarum.

Webinar Recording Available! When Pregnancy is Used to Deny Pregnant Patients Their Civil and Human Rights

Experts Address the Rights of Pregnant Patients to Informed Consent, Bodily Integrity, and Medical Decision Making

What happens when a pregnant patient exercises their right to medical decision making? Is there any justification to override a pregnant patient’s consent? Join Pregnancy Justice for a discussion featuring leaders in bioethics, medicine, law and birth justice about pregnant patients' rights to informed consent, bodily integrity, and medical decision making and the trauma that forced medical interventions can inflict on pregnant people.

Pregnancy Justice testifies in support of effort to improve Maternal and Child Health in New York

On November 9th 2020, Pregnancy Justice alongside Ancient Song Doula Services, Brooklyn Defender Services, The Bronx Defenders, Movement for Family Power and the New York Civil Liberties Union submitted a collective testimony to show support of the New York State Senate Committee on Women's Issues efforts to improve maternal and child health outcomes.

Amicus Briefs Filed in Support of Rinat Dray in Her Ongoing Fight For Justice

Last week, Pregnancy Justice filed an amicus brief (“friend of the court”) in support of Rinat Dray in her ongoing fight for justice following unconsented and forced cesarean surgery at Northwell Health’s Staten Island University Hospital (SIUH).

Since 1914, New York State Courts have recognized that “Every human being of adult years and sound mind has a right to determine what shall be done with his own body.

Webinar: CHOICES: Offering Abortion & Birth Services Under One Roof

People who have abortions and people who give birth are often the same people, just at different points of their lives. So why are abortion services and birth services kept so separated? In a radical act of expansion, CHOICES has become the first non-profit health care provider in the county to offer both birth services and abortion care under one roof.