American Prisons and the Execution of Innocents

Terence P. Jeffrey on Apr 16, 2025

A week before Christmas in 2018, both Democratic and Republican senators went down to the Senate floor to congratulate each other for backing a bipartisan piece of legislation that they knew President Donald Trump was going to sign.

"This bill, with strong bipartisan support, should pass this afternoon with strong bipartisan majorities," said Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D.-N.Y.).

Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin (D.-Ill.) echoed this view.

"I can't remember another bill that had this kind of support, left and right, liberal, conservative, Republican, Democrat," said Durbin.

The bill passed the Senate 87-12 and the House 358-36. Trump signed it into law on Dec. 21, 2018.

What was it? It was the First Step Act, which reformed the federal prison system.

"The First Step Act," says the Bureau of Prisons (BOP), "requires the Attorney General to develop a risk and needs assessment system to be used by BOP to assess the recidivism risk and criminogenic needs of all federal prisoners and to place prisoners in recidivism reducing programs and productive activities to address their needs and reduce this risk."

The act also required the Bureau of Prisons to annually provide to the Bureau of Justice Statistics: "The number of female prisoners known by the Bureau of Prisons to be pregnant, as well as outcomes of such pregnancies, including information on pregnancies that result in live birth, stillbirth, miscarriage, abortion, ectopic pregnancy, maternal death, neonatal death, and preterm birth."

Tellingly, the act did not instruct the federal prison system to stop imprisoned women from aborting babies; it merely required the system to report the number of federally imprisoned women who had abortions each year.

In December 2024, the Bureau of Justice Statistics published a report entitled "Federal Prisoner Statistics Collected Under the First Step Act, 2024." It included the data for calendar year 2023.

In 2023, according to this report, there were 123 imprisoned women who had "pregnancies with outcomes" that year.

What happened to the unborn babies these women were carrying?

Sixty-one imprisoned mothers gave birth to live babies, while 47 were released from prison while still pregnant -- and the outcomes of their pregnancies were unknown.

Nine imprisoned mothers had a miscarriage, one had an ectopic pregnancy, another had a stillbirth, and another had a preterm birth.

Four aborted their babies.

In 2019, the year after the First Step Act passed, two federal prisoners had abortions. In 2020, none did; in 2021, one did; and in 2022, it jumped to six.

So, how does an unborn baby carried by a federally imprisoned mother end up being killed by an abortionist?

The Bureau of Prison's "Female Offender Manual" explains how the abortion of babies carried by federally imprisoned mothers are funded.

"The Bureau assumes all costs associated with the abortion procedure only when the life of the mother would be endangered if the fetus is carried to term, or in the case of rape or incest," says the manual. "In all other cases non-Bureau funds must be used to pay for any abortion procedure, or else the planned abortion may not be performed.

"In all cases, however," the manual says, "whether the Bureau pays for the abortion or not, the Bureau may expend funds to escort the inmate to a facility outside the institution to receive the procedure."

So, American taxpayers pay to escort federal prisoners to a place where they can have their unborn child killed.

What do state prisons do?

This month, the Bureau of Justice Statistics published a report entitled "Maternal Healthcare and Pregnancy Prevalence and Outcomes in Prisons, 2023."

It showed that prisons in this country do provide special care for prisoners who are pregnant.

"In 2023, all 51 jurisdictions reported providing a lower bunk assignment and prenatal vitamins to women in the custody of state and federal correctional authorities during pregnancy," said this report.

"Eighty-six percent of jurisdictions (44) reported providing a special diet and 69% (35) reported providing extra pillows during pregnancy," it said.

"Ninety-two percent of jurisdictions (47) reported providing social workers to assist pregnant women throughout pregnancy, and 88% (45) provided psychologists," it said.

Despite providing these services, however, the prisons still allowed prisoners to abort babies.

"Between January 1, 2023 and December 31, 2023," said the report, "727 pregnancy outcomes -- including live births, miscarriages, and abortions -- were reported in 49 jurisdictions."

These included 665 pregnancies that resulted in babies born alive to mothers who were imprisoned. It also included 47 pregnancies that ended in a miscarriage and 15 that ended in abortion.

The 15 pregnancies that imprisoned women ended through abortions that year included the four among federal prisoners and 11 among state prisoners.

Obviously, none of these unborn babies had committed a crime. American prisons should neither cooperate in the abortion of an unborn child carried by a prisoner nor allow a prisoner to abort an unborn child.

Prisons that do cooperate in any way in an abortion are cooperating in the execution of an innocent human being.

Congress should enact a law that prohibits federal and state prisoners from aborting a child.

To find out more about Terence P. Jeffrey and read features by other Creators writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators webpage at www.creators.com.

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