Texas prison guards throw nurse in isolation for explaining abortion: report

An incarcerated woman in Texas was thrown into isolation by prison guards after they heard her debunking right-wing talking points against abortion, reported The Nation on Tuesday.

The problems started when Kwaneta Harris, a former nurse who was sentenced to 50 years in 2009 for killing and burying her romantic partner, began trying to fill in the sex education of women in adjacent cells in the Lane Murray Unit in Gatesville, Texas, where she has been locked up on high security since trying to forge a note from a judge to escape prison in 2016.

"One Wednesday in mid-April, Harris removed her headphones and heard the younger women shouting through their cell doors. That in itself wasn’t unusual, but the conversation soon had Harris at her own door. They were giving advice about avoiding pregnancy — and all of their advice was wrong," reported Victoria Law. "'You gotta let him in yo butthole before yo biscuit and be a toaster strudel, not a twinkie,' they shouted to a woman who was scheduled for release within a few months. Translation: To avoid pregnancy, a woman should have anal sex before vaginal sex. She should also be sure that the man ejaculated on her, not inside her." Harris corrected them.

Then, as other women began asking her questions, one asked her about "partial-birth abortion" — a right-wing term that doesn't actually have any medical meaning. Harris said, "that's not a thing" — and then a guard intervened.

"From her cell, Harris could see in only one direction. She did not see the man during the first part of her impromptu sex education discussion. But once she began dispelling myths about abortion, he stormed into view, yelling at her to shut up and threatening not only a disciplinary ticket for violating prison rules but even a new criminal charge, which could lead to additional prison time," said the report. "In response, the younger women cursed him out, even telling the officer that he was a 'partial birth abortion.' The officer took Harris’s identification card to write a disciplinary ticket and he threatened to file a new criminal charge against her, Harris said. After he stormed off, Harris began making phone calls from her prison-issued tablet to find out if the state had passed any post-Dobbs laws that might allow new charges to be brought against her."

Shortly after that incident, Harris was removed to another side of the cell, far away from any other prisoner so she couldn't speak to them anymore. Speaking to The Nation, she said the guards sent her a clear message: "Shut the hell up."