The Births in Custody Reporting Act of 2025 (BCRA) requires states to report anonymized, aggregate information to the Attorney General regarding inmates who are pregnant or have given birth while in custody.
Jon Ossoff
Senator
GA
The Births in Custody Reporting Act of 2025 (BCRA) mandates states to report anonymized, aggregate data to the Attorney General on pregnant inmates and those who give birth in custody. This includes details on pregnancy outcomes, prenatal care, use of restraints, and postpartum care. Non-compliant states may face a reduction in federal funding, which will be reallocated to compliant states. The Attorney General will then publish these reports, conduct a study, and report to Congress on improving the treatment of pregnant inmates.
Births in Custody Reporting Act of 2025: New Federal Data Rules for Pregnant Inmates
The "Births in Custody Reporting Act of 2025," or BCRA, is all about tracking what happens to pregnant inmates in state facilities. Basically, it's a federal mandate for states to collect and share detailed info on the health and treatment of pregnant people behind bars.
Tracking Pregnancy Behind Bars
The core of the BCRA is data. States now have to report quarterly to the Attorney General on a bunch of specifics: how many inmates are pregnant, their race and ethnicity, when they were admitted, and whether they got a pregnancy test within a week of arrival (as per SEC. 2). They also need to report if a pregnant inmate saw a "qualified medical professional" for a prenatal visit within 7 days of the pregnancy being confirmed.
It gets even more granular. The bill wants to know about pregnancy outcomes – live births, stillbirths, miscarriages, even maternal or neonatal deaths (SEC 2). Plus, they need to specify where these outcomes happened – in the facility or off-site. For instance, if a woman gives birth at a local hospital while in custody, that's tracked. If, tragically, a woman has stillbirth, that is also tracked.
Restraints and Restrictive Housing
This is where it gets real. The BCRA zeroes in on the use of restraints. States have to report how many times a pregnant inmate was restrained, the type of restraint (ankles, wrists, abdomen), and the justification – especially during pregnancy, labor, and delivery (SEC. 2). So, if an officer uses wrist restraints on a pregnant woman during transport, that incident, the reason, and the type of restraint are all recorded.
Restrictive housing (solitary confinement) is also under scrutiny. The bill requires reporting on how many pregnant or postpartum inmates were placed in restrictive housing, why, and for how long (SEC. 2). This could impact a pregnant inmate's access to medical care and overall well-being.
Postpartum Care and Penalties
It's not just about pregnancy; the BCRA also looks at the postpartum period. States must report on whether postpartum inmates (at least 12 weeks after delivery) were screened for postpartum depression and had a medical appointment within two weeks of giving birth (SEC. 2).
And there are teeth to this law. States have 120 days to comply (with a possible extension), or they risk losing up to 10% of their funding under the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (SEC. 2). That money gets redirected to states that are following the rules.
The Big Picture
The BCRA isn't just about collecting data; it's about using that data. The Attorney General has to make these reports public and conduct a study within two years to improve how pregnant inmates are treated and to see if there's a link between facility management and pregnancy outcomes (SEC. 2). Think of it as a push for evidence-based policy changes in a system that's often hidden from view.