An Alabama woman named Ashley Caswell delivered her child alone in the jail shower. The Etowah county arrested her for violating Alabama law of not protecting an unborn child.
Caswell was first detained in March 2021 by the sheriffs in Etowah County, Alabama, on suspicion that she had used methamphetamine while pregnant and was "endangering" the health of her unborn child.
Caswell Charged For 'Endangering Fetus'
Pregnancy Justice Senior Staff Attorney Emma Roth said Etowah county claims they prosecute women to protect their fetus, or their unborn child from harm. Etowah county staff members refused to let Caswell use the prescribed breast pump or ibuprofen when she got back to the jail from the hospital.
Caswell shared that she begged to be transferred to a hospital when her water broke in October. However, as Caswell's lawyer claimed, Etowah county officials advised her to "sleep it off" and "wait until Monday" to give birth.
Caswell had an early pregnancy, and according to her medical records, she lost blood and amniotic fluid and gave birth to her child while standing alone in a jail shower in nearly 12-hour labor.
The Etowah county officials only gave her Tylenol to ease her discomfort and instructed her to "stop screaming" and "deal with the pain" and that she was "not in full labor."
Caswell nearly bled to death, but the newborn survived, and the Etowah county officials separated the child from her after the labor.
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Caswell Files Lawsuit Against Etowah County Staff
Caswell sued the Etowah County Staff, including Etowah County Sheriff Jonathan Horton, Chief Keith Peek, chief of administration, Doctor's Care Physicians, CED Mental Health Services, and other members of the medical and correction staff at the jail.
The attorneys from Pregnancy Justice, the Southern Poverty Law Center, and the law firm Sullivan & Cromwell filed the lawsuit.
According to the lawsuit, Caswell was diagnosed with PTSD and depression. The Etowah county staff could not even get her medication to treat her illness, and had to sleep on a thin mattress on the floor.
"Ashley is the latest victim of the Etowah County Jail, which consistently punishes pregnant women in the name of protecting 'unborn children' while simultaneously endangering their lives," Roth said in a statement in AL.
Roth added that Etowah County violated her constitutional rights and showed discrimination to mothers and children. She said "torture" is the term to describe Caswell's situation in the jail.
Furthermore, Pregnancy Justice reported this year that Alabama had the highest number of pregnancy criminalization cases in the country from 2006 to 2022.
