Women's and Reproductive Rights

Today, a coalition of parents and Head Start providers filed a lawsuit challenging the Trump administration’s coordinated and unlawful efforts to dismantle the Head Start program, which would be catastrophic for the millions of people who rely on it.

Laws around accessing abortion vary from state to state. Illinois law ensures that abortion is legal for all people. Know your rights when accessing abortion care in Illinois.

With Expecting Justice, the ACLU of Illinois and the WJI saw the need for a deeper evaluation of the often-overlooked conditions for those who are pregnant or postpartum, and others needing reproductive health care, in county jails across the state. 

We represent Amy Hicks, a woman from downstate Illinois who was forced to undergo the non-consensual induction of her labor during the birth of her third child while she was in the custody of the Illinois Department of Corrections at the Logan Correctional Center in Lincoln, Illinois. This experience violated Ms. Hicks’ rights under the Illinois Reproductive Health Act, a law that explicitly allows every person in our state to make their own autonomous decisions about their reproductive health care, and the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which protects the right of individuals to refuse unwanted medical care. Ms. Hicks was well along in her third trimester of pregnancy when she entered Logan Correctional Center in January of 2024. Almost from the moment she got to Logan, Ms. Hicks was told by one prison staffer and medical provider after another that she would be scheduled for an induction of her labor prior to her due date. Ms. Hicks repeatedly made clear to medical professionals and IDOC staff that she did not want to be induced and wished to go into labor naturally, just as she had done with her first two children. All of these people ignored her wishes and told her that she would be scheduled for an induction because this was the protocol for all pregnant inmates, regardless of what she wanted. In early February, two full weeks ahead of her due date, Ms. Hicks was taken (in shackles) to a hospital where the induction was performed. This experience of having her express wishes regarding her medical care disregarded was extremely upsetting and traumatizing for Ms. Hicks. We are asking a federal court to recognize that Ms. Hicks’ treatment while in custody of the Illinois Department of Corrections violated her rights under federal and state law and ensure that she is compensated for her suffering. We hope this case prompts changes so that the right of all incarcerated individuals to make their own decisions about how they will give birth will be respected going forward.