The authorities try to make women behave. Sometimes, they go to extremes.
In Britain, a woman with limited mental capacity was required to have an abortion – so said the National Health Service Trust. The woman objected. Her mother objected. Her mother had been a midwife. She promised to care for the child. The Court of Protection insisted on what was best for the pregnant woman. The judge knew what was best. She found the pregnant woman did not know what it meant to have a child, that the prospective caretaker might not be able to fulfill her promise, and the pregnant woman would suffer more if the child were taken away for foster care in the future. An appeals court overturned the decision almost immediately.
In the United States (in Alabama), a pregnant woman was charged with manslaughter. The fetus died when she was shot. The pregnant woman got out of a passing car to accost another woman with whom she had been feuding. The other woman took a pistol from her purse and shot her. The grand jury chose not to indict the shooter. The police obtained an indictment of the pregnant woman. They explained — there was only one victim, the fetus. The pregnant woman was responsible for the death of the fetus by virtue of starting the fight. Prosecutors decided charging this woman with a crime. They could have made that decision a little quicker.
Both pregnant women were black. A woman of Ibo Nigerian origin in Britain. An African American in the United States.
Authorities making women behave. Authorities making pregnant black women. behave. Would the authorities have behaved the same way with white women?