By Bob Egelko
San Francisco Chronicle
Women jailed in Alameda County will no longer have to undergo pregnancy tests under a settlement announced Wednesday.
The American Civil Liberties Union sued Sheriff Greg Ahern in June 2014 on behalf of women who had submitted unwillingly to mandatory pregnancy tests. The ACLU said Wednesday’s settlement requires the Sheriff’s Office to offer the examinations as an option for women up to age 55. Mandatory testing will be allowed only by court order or for women who are incapable of consenting.
The lawsuit quoted Ahern as telling an ACLU lawyer in a December 2010 letter that all women brought to the Glenn Dyer jail were tested “so that we can provide the essential medical necessities needed by pregnant women in our society.” He said women found to be pregnant were transferred to the main county jail at Santa Rita, which has an obstetrics clinic.
A sheriff’s spokesman attributed the policy to a settlement of an earlier case, at least a decade ago, in which the department had been sued for not conducting pregnancy tests.
The solution is to offer the tests with the woman’s consent, said Phyllida Burlingame, reproductive justice policy director for the ACLU in Northern California. She said Alameda was the only county in California known to require pregnancy exams for female inmates, although some counties have vaguely written policies that could be interpreted as requiring the tests. Others, including San Francisco, expressly leave the choice up to the inmate.
“The county’s stated intent was to protect the reproductive health of women in its custody, but forcing all female arrestees to undergo pregnancy testing violated their rights and left our clients feeling humiliated,” Burlingame said.
One plaintiff, Susan Harman, was 69 when she was arrested at a political protest in July 2010. Harman said she was still reeling from being clubbed in the head by police when she was jailed and ordered to take a pregnancy test. She said she was released the next day without charges and was never told the results.
“Pregnancy testing may be useful and should be offered, but it should always be up to the individual,” Harman said in a statement through her lawyers.
After the issue was raised, the county voluntarily changed its policy to require the tests only for women younger than 60.
Burlingame said the ACLU is working with the county on other reproductive health concerns for female inmates, including their right to contraceptive devices and medication as well as feminine hygiene products. She said counties are in the process of implementing recent state laws that restrict the shackling of pregnant inmates and prohibit sterilizations in jails and prisons.
The settlement also includes $45,000 in attorneys’ fees for the plaintiffs’ lawyers. Ahern’s office was not immediately available for comment.
Copyright 2015 the San Francisco Chronicle