March 23, 2026
By If/When/How

Our client, Brianna Bennett, never expected that advocating for herself during birth would result in a court mandated two-and-a-half-hour C-section.

Bennett had three prior C-sections that she had grown to doubt the medical reasoning for—surveys have found that more than 10% of women feel pressured into C-sections and other procedures while pregnant. For Bennett, each recovery had been harder than the last, leaving her so incapacitated after the third that for two weeks she couldn’t even go to the bathroom without help.

While laboring towards the vaginal birth after cesarean (VBAC) that she planned for her fourth child, her hospital room filled with staff and a tablet was placed in front of her with a judge on the screen.

Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare had filed an emergency suit to grant them the power to perform a C-section on Bennett against her will. Bennett had no lawyer, no advocate, and was forced into a court process she didn’t ask for, completely alone, while in labor.

Everyone has the right to make decisions about what will happen to their bodies; this right extends to pregnant people as well. But in Florida and elsewhere, there is a history of hospitals turning to courts to force pregnant patients to comply with medical advice.

While Brianna’s story is horrifying, this is unfortunately not the first time our Helpline has heard from mothers who had C-sections forced on them by the state.

A year later, Cherise Doyley—a birth doula and midwife in training—was 12 hours into labor at UF Health when she found herself in front of a tablet with a judge, flanked by lawyers, doctors, and hospital staff on the screen. During the hearing, she made it clear that she understood the risks and benefits of the decisions she had made and didn’t want to agree to a C-section unless there was an emergency.

But they took the decision away from her. The judge decided how she would give birth.

That is not care. That is control.

Cherise Doyley and Brianna Bennett stood up for themselves in those hospital rooms — still in labor, alone, against a screen full of strangers — because they believed their rights mattered. They were right. Now they need our help!

We’re teaming up with Ultra Violet, Pregnancy Justice, Elephant Circle, and the Center for Reproductive Rights to demand accountability. Join us!

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