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Commentary on: Abbott L, Scott T, Thomas H. Experiences of midwifery care in English prisons. Birth. 2023 Mar;50(1):244-251. doi: 10.1111/birt.12692. Epub 2022 Nov 12.
Implications for practice and research
Incarceration presents barriers to best midwifery practices, restricting patient choice in care provider and place of birth. Midwives play an important role advocating for incarcerated patients.
Prison staff misunderstand midwifery and conceptualise access to care as a reward for good behaviour. Future research should assess outcomes of alternatives to incarceration.
Context
Women continue to be one of the fastest growing populations experiencing incarceration, with significant consequences for their newborns and children. Despite international and national requirements for equivalent care to what is available in community, existing research in the field of prison perinatal health has found delays and gaps in care and poor neonatal outcomes associated with pregnancy in prison.1 This study by Abbott et al …
Footnotes
Twitter @marthpaynter
Competing interests None declared.
Provenance and peer review Commissioned; internally peer reviewed.