HB411 Summary

• Adopts the Alabama Women's CARE Act to allow pregnant women sentenced to incarceration to defer their sentence until 12 weeks after childbirth.

• Requires jail facilities to offer urine pregnancy tests within three days of intake for women who report or suspect pregnancy, with results reported to the court and county health department.

• Mandates court release on bail for pregnant women who test positive, provided the court determines they do not pose a significant threat.

• Allows pregnant women to serve pre-incarceration probation (via electronic supervision only, with no fines) for the length of pregnancy plus 12 weeks postpartum; time served counts toward their sentence.

• Makes failure to surrender 12 weeks after birth a Class A misdemeanor and grants courts discretion on surrender timing if a woman loses her pregnancy during probation; requires pregnancy loss reporting within 72 hours.