Alabama Woman Claims She Was Forced to Give Birth on Prison Floor

An Alabama woman has federal lawsuit claiming that her civil rights were violated when prison guards forced her to give birth in a cell.

According to The Guardian, plaintiff Tiffany McElroy was booked into an Alabama jail in May 2024. About three days after arriving, McElroy felt her water break. The lawsuit notes that McElroy had been detained on charges related to substance abuse during pregnancy; she later discovered that she had suffered a pregnancy-related complication that could have progressed to sepsis.

In court filings, McElroy said that she informed a guard as soon as her water broke and asked to be taken to a hospital. Her request was ignored. Later in the same day, another guard accused McElroy of intentionally urinating on herself before ordering her to return to her cell.

Over the next 24 hours, the lawsuit says, McElroy repeatedly asked prison staff to call 9-1-1, but nobody listened. Guards purportedly failed to react even after other inmates tried to draw attention to McElroy’s condition by pounding loudly on their cell windows and tables.

The lawsuit claims that guards never took any action beyond giving her a diaper and Tylenol.

Another inmate eventually helped McElroy deliver a baby girl, who was born on the prison floor while guards watched. Two other women had to help revive the newborn, who was not breathing at the time of delivery, by removing mucus from her mouth and rubbing her chest.

“McElroy was basically being tortured over the course of hours, and that should really make all the hairs stand up on everybody’s necks, regardless of what people think about people who are incarcerated,” said Karen Thompson, the legal director of Pregnancy Justice, which is representing McElroy in the lawsuit. “I think we can all agree this is not the way to treat a pregnant person, and this most certainly is not the way to treat someone in labor and delivery.”

McElroy said she hopes her lawsuit prevents other women from having to undergo similar experiences.

“I’m so grateful that my baby and I are here today, and I owe that to other women because the guards treated me like I was less than nothing. My body was on fire, and I was terrified that I’d never see my other kids again. I barely got to hold her, and I couldn’t even breastfeed,” McElroy said in a statement. “I have nightmares that we both died—and it’s like a part of me did die that day. I’m scared to even get pregnant again. They shouldn’t be allowed to do that to another woman ever again.”

Sources

Alabama jail staff didn’t help when she went into labor — other inmates did, lawsuit says

Alabama woman sues alleging she gave birth on prison floor as guards watched