At this week's Round Table, Inica, Jack, Kenisha, and Madeline spoke with Carolyn Sufrin, MD/PhD and an assistant professor of gynecology and obstetrics at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine; Director of the Advocacy and Research on Reproductive Wellness in Incarcerated People program; and who serves on the board of the National Commission on Correctional Health Care. Dr Sufrin worked as an OB GYN in a jail for 6 years. Fun fact: imprisoned folks are the only population who legally have guaranteed healthcare stemming from a Supreme Court case in 1976 in which not providing healthcare was deemed cruel and unusual punishment and a violation of the 8th amendment. Sadly, this guaranteed provision does NOT translate into quality--there is LOTS of neglect and getting screenings, getting ADEQUATE care, getting abortions, and getting appropriate medications are hard to come by in prison. Unfortunately, getting unnecessary surgeries isn’t--Carolyn told us about myriad women in CA who have been unnecessarily sterilized.
Carolyn was influenced by reproductive rights activism she did in high school, and seeing the potential of medicine to activate social justice. She was further influenced by the field of reproductive justice, which centers black women whose experiences have been devalued and diminished, and contextualizes these violations within a broader human rights framework. As a first year Resident in Medical School, she was called to support the delivery of a baby by a woman who was SHACKLED TO THE BED--and her career path advocating for health care for incarcerated women was set. Through her work today, Carolyn looks at both statistics AND stories to get behind stereotypes. There are 218,000 women behind bars today, the majority btw 18-45, and 60% of whom are mothers responsible for children. The impact of incarceration is not just on women but families and communities. Further, as we know, there are profound racial disparities in incarceration that don’t track w crime rates due to people having suffered from structural and systemic forces that have impacted them and the crimes they’ve committed, along w racism within the criminal legal system. We were so inspired by Dr. Sufrin and we know you will be too. Thank you for joining us!
