Amanda Heffernan, a nurse-midwife based in Seattle who has been working with pregnant migrants for the past seven years, says the patients she’s supporting have had similar experiences. “We know that detention is not a place where pregnant women can be healthy and safe,” she says. Since Donald Trump returned to power, pregnant women have told her they’ve not had access to prenatal care or nutritious food, and at least one has been held in what could only be described as inhumane conditions for three weeks. These factors, as well as the stress detainees are under, have made her worried for the health of their pregnancies. Heffernan recounts what she has witnessed.
