SJC Exchange Library

Originally posted by Wanda Bertram on 06/18/2024

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hello friends,

With the second anniversary of the Dobbs decision, which brought down Roe v. Wade, coming up next week, we've just published a new briefing showing how "standard conditions" of probation and parole now force women in 41 states to get permission to leave the state for abortion care.

Key findings include:

• 82% of women on probation and 85% of women on parole live in states that (1) either completely ban abortion or restrict it based on gestational age and (2) list travel restrictions as a standard condition of supervision.
• 53% of women under supervision live in states with bans stricter than those that were allowed under Roe v. Wade, meaning they are far more often forced to travel out of state.
• The much tighter restrictions imposed by 21 states since the Dobbs decision have put over 400,000 more women in the position of having to seek permission to travel for abortion care, compared to under Roe v. Wade.
  

For a population that already faces steep financial barriers to health care, and is disproportionately uninsured, needing a supervising officer's permission to travel out of state puts abortion care (and other care) out of reach.

Our briefing includes a 50-state table showing how states differ in their abortion laws as well as their "standard conditions" for both probation and parole, and listing the number of women under each type of supervision in every state. We also offer a short list of recommendations urging states to both end the overuse of supervision as a punishment, and to move away from "one-size-fits-all" restrictions on supervised people.

You can read the full briefing here: https://www.prisonpolicy.org/blog/2024/06/18/dobbs/

I hope this is useful in your work!

Take care,

Wanda

Prison Policy Initiative

------------------------------
Wanda Bertram
Communications Strategist
Prison Policy Initiative
------------------------------