While many claim that being a mom is the most important job in the world in reality
motherhood in the United States is becoming harder. From pre-conception through pregnancy and
while parenting women are held to ever-higher standards and finding themselves punished - both
socially and criminally - for failing to live up to these norms. This book uncovers how women
of all ethnic backgrounds and socio-economic statuses have been interrogated held against
their will and jailed for a rapidly expanding list of offenses such as falling down the stairs
while pregnant or letting a child spend time alone in a park actions that were not considered
criminal a generation ago. While poor mothers and moms of color are targeted the most all moms
are in jeopardy whether they realize it or not. Women and mothers are disproportionately held
accountable compared to men and fathers who do not see their reproduction policed and almost
never incur charges for failure to protect. The gendered inequality of prosecutions reveals
them to be more about controlling women than protecting children. Using a reproductive justice
lens Caitlin Killian analyzes how and why mothers are on a precipice and what must change to
prevent mass penalization and instead support mothers and their children.
