Woman in Labor Spent 3 Hours Fighting a Judge on Zoom to Avoid a Forced C-Section

OA1264 - Sherise Doyley was in the early stages of labor, in a hospital bed, preparing to deliver her baby, when nurses wheeled in a computer. On the screen was a judge, notifying her of an emergency order by the State of Florida to attempt to force her to undergo a C-section, instead of first attempting vaginal delivery. For 3 hours she advocated for herself, without an attorney, barely covered in a hospital gown.

How was any of this legal? What is happening? Jenessa breaks down the history of our rights to make our own medical decisions and how that is legally modified in pregnancy, Lydia shares her own birth experience and how these situations could be handled with actual compassion, and Thomas holds very still in hopes our eyes are based on movement (just kidding, Thomas is very supportive and also outraged). Come rage against the machine with us and hopefully breathe life into a revived pro-choice movement, before it’s too late.

• Amy Yurkanin (Mar. 14, 2026), They Didn’t Want to Have C-Sections. A Judge Would Decide How They Gave Birth, ProPublica.

  • Video clips of Doyley hearing, provided by ProPublica’s Facebook page

• Anuli Njoku, Marian Evans, Lillian Nimo-Sefah, & Jonell Bailey (2023). Listen to the Whispers before They Become Screams: Addressing Black Maternal Morbidity and Mortality in the United States, 11 Healthcare 438.

• Brad N. Greenwood, Rachel R. Hardeman, Laura Huang, & Aaron Sojourner (2020), Physician–patient racial concordance and disparities in birthing mortality for newborns, 117 Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 21194.

• Maternal Mortality Prevention (Dec. 18, 2025). Data from the Pregnancy Mortality Surveillance System, CDC.

• Bracey Harris & Elizabeth Chuck (Jan. 9, 2026), 'Her worst fear has come to pass': Midwife who advocated for Black women dies after giving birth, NBC News.

• Camila Domonoske (Apr. 17, 2018), 'Father Of Gynecology,' Who Experimented On Slaves, No Longer On Pedestal In NYC, NPR.

• Megan L. Swanson, Sara Whetstone, Tushani Illangasekare, & Amy (Meg) Autry (2021), Obstetrics and Gynecology and Reparations: The Debt We Owe (and Continue to Accumulate), 5 Health Equity 353.

• Nicole Loy (May 16, 2025), Pain and Gynecology: Raising Standards of Care, The Healthcare Review at Cornell University.

• Jess Mador (July 29, 2025), A Brain-Dead Pregnant Woman Was Kept Alive in Georgia. It’s Unclear if State Law Required It, KFF Health News.

• (June 2025), Pregnancy Exceptionalism: A Review of Restrictions on Advance Directives, Pregnancy Justice.

• U.S. Const. amend. IX

• Jacobson v. Massachusetts, 197 U.S. 11 (1905)

• Rochin v. California, 342 U.S. 165 (1952)

• Cruzan v. Director, Missouri Dep't of Health, 497 U.S. 261 (1990)

• Washington v. Harper, 494 U.S. 210 (1990)

• Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113 (1973)

• Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pa. v. Casey, 505 U.S. 833 (1992)

• Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, 597 U.S. 215 (2022)

• Heller v. Doe, 509 U.S. 312 (1993)

• State Dept. of Human Services v. Northern, 563 S.W.2d 197 (1978)

• Lane v. Candura, 6 Mass. App. Ct. 377 (1978)

• Koskenoja v. Whitmer, Mich. Ct. Cl. (2026)

• (Apr. 20, 2026), Michigan Pregnancy Exclusion Law is Unconstitutional, Compassion & Choices.

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