A homeless woman said that she was going into labor in Louisville, Ky., when a police officer gave her a citation under a law that bans unauthorized public camping, according to her lawyer and body-camera footage released on Thursday.
The woman, who was in her early 30s and who was not identified by the authorities or her lawyer, was taken by ambulance to a hospital and gave birth to a boy that same day.
Her citation came as Kentucky became one of at least three states to ban homeless camping this year, in addition to nearly 60 localities that also did. In June, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a law enacted by Grants Pass, Ore., banning homeless people from sleeping outdoors.
In Louisville, the woman was standing next to a box spring and a mattress on the ground under an elevated concrete structure when Lt. Caleb Stewart of the Louisville Metro Police Department approached her on Sept. 27, the body-camera footage shows.
She could be heard saying that she was losing amniotic fluid and “might be going into labor,” and that her husband had left to call an ambulance. She began to walk away when the lieutenant told her to stop.
She asked if she was being detained, and Lieutenant Stewart confirmed that she was. He called an ambulance. Footage later showed him narrating the events in his vehicle, during which he said that he “wasn’t seeing what she was saying.”
“I think if I had just totally ignored the fact that she’s violating unlawful camping statutes and she was claiming to have a medical emergency, then I think it would set the precedent, or at least reinforce with her, that saying you have a medical emergency is a ticket to get out of whatever it is that you’re doing that’s in violation of the law,” Lieutenant Stewart said.
The interaction highlighted frustrations that supporters for the rights of homeless people have with a state law passed in April that made unsanctioned public camping illegal.
First-time violations of the law can result in a $250 fine. Second and subsequent offenses could carry potential jail time and additional fines. Ryan Dischinger, a lawyer for the woman who was cited, said the violation in September was her first offense.
In Louisville, nearly 600 people were homeless and not living in shelters when the city last counted its homeless population in 2024.
“For law enforcement to come upon somebody that is in labor and whose water has broken, and just say they don’t believe her, it’s disgusting,” said Christen Herron, the director of housing services at the Arthur Street Hotel, which shelters and helps homeless people in Louisville.
Ms. Herron added that she had previously worked with the woman who was cited, and that she sought help at the facility after giving birth.
“When she came to us, the moment she was discharged from the hospital, we were able to secure family shelter for her and her baby, and they’re doing phenomenal,” Ms. Herron said.
A spokesman for the Louisville Metro Police Department said that members of the city’s Safe and Healthy Streets initiative had on two occasions offered the woman resources for shelter, which she had declined.
“We take any situation involving vulnerable individuals, including those experiencing a medical emergency, very seriously,” the spokesman said. “No one wants to see a pregnant woman living in such deplorable conditions.”
But some who work with homeless people in Louisville are skeptical about the effectiveness of the city’s outreach in providing care. Mr. Dischinger said that many people camping on the streets distrust local officials.
“The Homeless Services division that goes out to clear these encampments with police officers wear bulletproof vests that say ‘Homeless Services’ on the front of them,” Mr. Dischinger said. “They are openly carrying firearms. I can’t imagine a world in which that is seen as inviting or compassionate.”
Between July 15 and Nov. 20 of this year, Lieutenant Stewart criminally charged people at least 26 times for violating the encampment law, The Courier Journal of Louisville reported, and during that same period, there were 18 total such citations issued by all other Louisville Metro officers.
According to a study released in 2023 by the University of California, San Francisco, and the Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative, 26 percent of women ages 18 to 44 had been pregnant while experiencing homelessness in California.
“My position is that the solution to homelessness is housing, pretty much straight up, and without any actual caveats,” Mr. Dischinger said. “Certainly, criminalization is not the answer.”
The post Homeless Woman Going Into Labor Is Cited for Camping Violation appeared first on New York Times.
