Stop Forced C-Sections. Protect Patients’ Right to Choose.

Cherise Doyley was 12 hours into active labor when her hospital took her to court to override her medical decisions.

Twelve hours into labor at UF Health Jacksonville, Doyley—a trained birth doula—was forced into a virtual courtroom while still in pain, surrounded by doctors and lawyers arguing against her choice to avoid another C-section after a prior traumatic experience. She had the right to decide. The hospital tried to take it away.

This is not an isolated case. Brianna Bennett, another Black woman, was also forced into a C-section at Tallahassee Memorial. This is a pattern—one rooted in systemic racism and dangerous legal trends that prioritize fetal rights over the rights of pregnant patients. It’s time for that to change.

Add your name to our petition to demand UF Health and Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare stop forcing pregnant people into unwanted cesarean surgeries.

Cherise Doyley was given no lawyer, no time to prepare, and no real support during a three-hour hearing while she labored. She was the only Black person in a room full of white decision-makers. When she raised concerns about racial bias, the judge dismissed them.

Black women already face far higher risks during pregnancy, often because their concerns are ignored. Responding with coercion instead of care only deepens that crisis.

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. Let’s back them up now.

Tell UF Health and Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare: “End forced C-sections and respect pregnant patients’ rights.” Join us and partners at Pregnancy Justice, Elephant Circle, If/When/How, and the Center for Reproductive Rights in demanding accountability now.

The petition to University of Florida Health (UF Health) and Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare reads:

Cherise Doyley and Brianna Bennett deserved better. Every pregnant patient deserves better. We urge you to:

- Stop forcing pregnant people to have cesarean births.
- Take all necessary steps to end discriminatory policies and practices based on sex, gender, pregnancy status, and race.
- Discipline the doctors and hospital staff who ignored Doyley and Bennett’s concerns and coerced them to undergo a court-ordered C-section against their will.
- Publicly acknowledge and provide financial relief for the harm UF Health caused to the Doyley family and Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare inflicted on the Bennett family.  

Pregnant patients are not second-class citizens. Their bodies, their voices, and their rights deserve full respect.