Recommended Citation
Michele Goodwin,
The Pregnancy Penalty,
26 Health Matrix
17
(2016)
Available at:
https://scholarlycommons.law.case.edu/healthmatrix/vol26/iss1/4
Abstract
Punishing pregnant women increasingly serves as a litmus test in political discourse, inviting more than a metaphor about state sanctioned violence targeted at women. In 2016, candidates for the United States presidency threatened to defund Planned Parenthood if elected and a leading candidate promised he would "punish" pregnant women who seek abortions. Other presidential candidates urged that even victims of rape and incest should be forced to carry their pregnancies to term, imposing yet another penalty or strike against sexually violated women and girls. Local legislatures and governors show equal contempt for and desire to penalize women in the United States and specifically Utah, Texas, and Wisconsin.