Roe v. Crawford

396 F.Supp.2d 1041 (2005)

Facts

P is a pregnant female over the age of eighteen (18) years who desires to terminate her pregnancy. P is approximately 16 - 17 weeks pregnant. P is currently incarcerated at Women's Diagnostic and Correctional Center (WERDCC). The nearest clinic that performs medical services to terminate pregnancy at Plaintiff's stage of pregnancy is Reproductive Health Services of Planned Parenthood of St. Louis (RHS) in St. Louis, MO 63108. The procedure requires one, possibly two days to perform safely, depending on the actual condition of the patient after examination. Ds' conduct of delaying the procedure creates an increased health risk to P as well as an increased cost of the two-day procedure. Ds have previously provided transportation and security to RHS for detainees seeking such a procedure. D has refused to allow P to leave the premises to have this outpatient procedure performed. P alleges that the prison's policy that female prisoners will not be sent out of their institutions for abortions that are not medically necessary deprives her of her Fourteenth Amendment right to reproductive choice and that by forcing her to carry her unwanted pregnancy to term, WERDCC evinces a deliberate indifference to her serious medical needs in violation of the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments' proscription of cruel and unusual punishment. P requests a preliminary injunction requiring Ds to transport her to a local healthcare provider for the purpose of providing medical services to terminate her pregnancy.