TY - JOUR
T1 - Pregnancy Prevalence and Outcomes in 3 United States Juvenile Residential Systems
AU - Kim, Minji
AU - Sufrin, Carolyn
AU - Nowotny, Kathryn
AU - Beal, Lauren
AU - Jiménez, Monik C.
N1 - Funding Information:
Dr Sufrin is an ex-officio member of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists Committee on Health Care for Underserved Women, serving as the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists liaison to the board of the National Commission on Correctional Health Care; in this role, she reports receiving reimbursement for travel. M.C.J. is supported by the H. Richard Nesson Fellowship through the Center for Community Health and Health Equity at Brigham and Women's Hospital. The remaining authors indicate no conflicts of interest.
Funding Information:
This research was supported by the Society of Family Planning Research Fund (SFPRF9-JI1) and the National Institute of Child Health and Development (grant NICHD-K12HD085845). The authors thank Dr Jennifer Clarke, Rhode Island Department of Corrections, for study design; Becki Ney from the National Resource Center on Justice Involved Women and Maureen Buell from the National Institute of Corrections for their assistance in recruitment; and the site reporters at the participating jails and the incarcerated women whose pregnancies are represented in these statistics. Dr Sufrin is an ex-officio member of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists Committee on Health Care for Underserved Women, serving as the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists liaison to the board of the National Commission on Correctional Health Care; in this role, she reports receiving reimbursement for travel. M.C.J. is supported by the H. Richard Nesson Fellowship through the Center for Community Health and Health Equity at Brigham and Women's Hospital. The remaining authors indicate no conflicts of interest.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 Elsevier Ltd
PY - 2021/8
Y1 - 2021/8
N2 - Study Objective: To describe the number of admissions of pregnant adolescents to US juvenile residential systems (JRS) and the outcomes of pregnancies that ended while in custody. Design: Prospective study. Setting: Three nonrandomly selected JRS in 3 US states. Participants: Designated reporter at each JRS reporting aggregate data on various pregnant admissions, outcomes, and systems’ policies. Interventions: None. Main Outcome Measures: Monthly number of pregnant people admitted, pregnant people at the end of the month, births, preterm births, cesarean deliveries, miscarriages, induced abortions, ectopic pregnancies, maternal and newborn deaths, and administrative policies. Results: There were 71 admissions of pregnant adolescents reported over 12 months from participating JRS. At the time of the census, 6 of the 183 female adolescents (3.3%) were pregnant. Eight pregnancies ended while in custody. Of these, 1 pregnancy was a live full-term birth, 4 were miscarriages, and 3 were induced abortions. There were no newborn deaths or maternal deaths. Administrative policies and services varied among the JRS. For example, all JRS had a prenatal care provider on-site, whereas 2 JRS helped cover the costs of abortions. Conclusion: To our knowledge, this study is the first to report the estimates of pregnancy and pregnancy outcomes among justice-involved youth in JRS. Our findings indicate that there are pregnant adolescents in JRS and most return to their communities while pregnant, highlighting the importance of continuity of care. More work is needed to understand the complexities of health care needs of justice-involved pregnant youth during and after their incarceration.
AB - Study Objective: To describe the number of admissions of pregnant adolescents to US juvenile residential systems (JRS) and the outcomes of pregnancies that ended while in custody. Design: Prospective study. Setting: Three nonrandomly selected JRS in 3 US states. Participants: Designated reporter at each JRS reporting aggregate data on various pregnant admissions, outcomes, and systems’ policies. Interventions: None. Main Outcome Measures: Monthly number of pregnant people admitted, pregnant people at the end of the month, births, preterm births, cesarean deliveries, miscarriages, induced abortions, ectopic pregnancies, maternal and newborn deaths, and administrative policies. Results: There were 71 admissions of pregnant adolescents reported over 12 months from participating JRS. At the time of the census, 6 of the 183 female adolescents (3.3%) were pregnant. Eight pregnancies ended while in custody. Of these, 1 pregnancy was a live full-term birth, 4 were miscarriages, and 3 were induced abortions. There were no newborn deaths or maternal deaths. Administrative policies and services varied among the JRS. For example, all JRS had a prenatal care provider on-site, whereas 2 JRS helped cover the costs of abortions. Conclusion: To our knowledge, this study is the first to report the estimates of pregnancy and pregnancy outcomes among justice-involved youth in JRS. Our findings indicate that there are pregnant adolescents in JRS and most return to their communities while pregnant, highlighting the importance of continuity of care. More work is needed to understand the complexities of health care needs of justice-involved pregnant youth during and after their incarceration.
KW - Adolescents
KW - Criminal justice
KW - Incarcerated
KW - Mass incarceration
KW - Pregnancy
KW - Youth
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U2 - 10.1016/j.jpag.2021.01.005
DO - 10.1016/j.jpag.2021.01.005
M3 - Article
C2 - 33484848
AN - SCOPUS:85101658306
SN - 1083-3188
VL - 34
SP - 546
EP - 551
JO - Journal of Pediatric and Adolescent Gynecology
JF - Journal of Pediatric and Adolescent Gynecology
IS - 4
ER -