Prison medical officials in Arizona are inducing labor in pregnant prisoners against their will, according to three incarcerated women who spoke to The Arizona Republic. Medical records obtained by the newspaper reflected that all three women were induced before their due dates. All three said they wanted to have spontaneous births, but were told by prison medical providers that induction was an Arizona Department of Corrections policy. The department did not respond to multiple requests for comment from the Republic, while the health care company contracted by the state to care for inmates, NaphCare, said that induction was “solely the patient’s choice.” A NaphCare spokesperson said that, since the company took over the contract last October, one incarcerated and pregnant patient had been induced as a “maternal-fetal safety precaution” under a hospital specialist’s orders. “They said they induce everyone because they don't want anyone going into labor here,” one incarcerated woman, Stephanie Pearson, told the Republic. “They just told me that someone on a different yard a few years ago went into labor in their cell, and had their baby in the cell, and that’s why they induce everyone now.”
