Ban the shackling of pregnant inmates during labor and delivery Nationwide

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has long decried the practice as a violation of the U.S. Constitution’s Eighth Amendment prohibition against “cruel and unusual punishment.” In states where there are no policies restricting their use, however, the shackling of pregnant women during labor or post partum continues to occur nationwide.
For women’s rights advocates, the threat extends beyond the mother’s health to that of their unborn baby.
From an international perspective, the practice of shackling of this kind is universally condemned as torture. In 2006 the United Nations Committee Against Torture alerted the U.S. government that shackling during childbirth is a violation of the United Nations Convention Against Torture.