Cherise Doyley was 12 hours into labor at University of Florida Health Jacksonville when a nurse walked in with a bedsheet and told her to cover up. A tablet was wheeled to her bedside. On the screen, she saw roughly 20 doctors, lawyers, and hospital staff. She was the only Black person in the room or on the screen.
As a professional birth doula, Cherise understood the specific risks and still wanted to continue her labor in the hopes of having a vaginal birth. The hospital didn’t agree and instead forced her to attend a hearing before a judge on Zoom, in an attempt to override her medical decision-making. She received no lawyer, no advocate, no time to prepare, and no say over what happened to her body. UF Health forced her into court – while she was in labor – to take that decision away from her.
A year and a half earlier, Brianna Bennett experienced the same violation of rights at Tallahassee Memorial Hospital, a different hospital in Florida. She was in labor when staff reached out to the state attorney to force her to have a cesarean surgery via a remote court hearing.
Both women wanted to deliver vaginally, both were forced into cesarean surgeries, and both are Black. This is not a coincidence. This is a pattern.
The effort to restrict pregnant people’s rights is rooted in the concept of “fetal personhood,” or, as we are calling it, “prenatal personhood,” — that a fetus has more rights than the woman sustaining it.
Laws promoting this give fertilized eggs, embryos, and fetuses legal rights, which leads to arrest, punishment, family separation, and pregnant people being pushed to the brink of death because of abortion bans and restrictions. It gives the state vast control, like the ability to ignore the rights of pregnant patients to make decisions about their own care.
Pregnancy is the only instance where Florida courts have ruled that a patient can be forced to undergo unwanted treatment. A state prisoner on a hunger strike has more rights to make medical decisions. That is not care. That is control.
The rights, lives, and health of pregnant patients are at risk. We need your help.
Join us, along with partners, to demand action from UF Health and Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare:
Cherise Doyley and Brianna Bennett deserved better. Every pregnant patient deserves better. Sign the petition to ensure pregnant people don’t lose rights just for being pregnant.
In solidarity,
The Pregnancy Justice Team