“Regulation is good but here law would be better,” the governor said. Pledging his support, Governor Patrick added, “I urge the Legislature to send [a bill] to my desk for signature this session.”
That bill, S. 2012, just reported out of the Public Safety Committee, provides broader protection than the emergency regulations.
The bill has two aims: to set standards on medical care for pregnant women in jail and prison and to set clear limits on shackling. The bill includes these important provisions:
- nutrition and prenatal vitamins
- prenatal and postpartum care
- some measure of privacy for women during physical examinations, labor, and childbirth
- absolutely no restraints during labor and childbirth, or during transportation to a hospital for “labor symptoms”
- no restraints during the postpartum period in the hospital without “extraordinary circumstances”
- bans on leg irons and waist chains after the first trimester
- handcuffs in the front, not behind someone’s back, after the first trimester, and only in “extraordinary circumstances”