Lost Mothers: Pregnancy and Motherhood in Prison - Comparative Insights from the UK and Japan

Date
Monday 18 May 2026

Time
6.45pm

Venue
The Swedenborg Society
20-21 Bloomsbury Way (Hall entrance on Barter St)
London WC1A 2TH
[Map]

Booking Details
Free- Booking essential

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“The worst thing I’ve ever experienced in this life is the separation. They literally take a piece of your heart… they leave enough to keep it beating, and the rest of it has gone.”

This talk brings together findings from the Lost Mothers project and an ethnographic doctoral study of incarcerated pregnancy to explore the lived realities of pregnancy, birth and maternal–newborn separation in prison. The doctoral research draws on in-depth fieldwork with 28 imprisoned pregnant women and 10 members of staff, generating richly intertwined accounts of care, constraint and survival. The Lost Mothers project extends this through interviews and observations with a total of 74 participants across five prisons in England, including women and professionals involved in mother-and-baby unit decision-making. Findings reveal profound grief, stigma, moral distress and systemic inconsistency. These UK insights are placed in comparative dialogue with emerging findings from Japan, highlighting shared structural harms and culturally specific institutional responses, and underscoring the urgent need for trauma-informed, internationally informed reform.

Laura Abbott is a Professor of Maternal Health and Criminal Justice at University of Hertfordshire and a qualitative researcher dedicated to improving the lives of incarcerated pregnant women and mothers. Her interdisciplinary work spans midwifery, sociology and criminology, with strong policy influence and public impact through creative collaborations using arts and theatre to communicate research. She founded the Specialist Prison Midwives Action Group, strengthening practice, peer support and national advocacy for women in custody and co-founded Pregnancy in Prison Partnership International (PiPPI). Laura has authored numerous international peer-reviewed journal articles, book chapters and an edited book, and she regularly advises government bodies on maternal health, inequality and criminal justice. She is Principal Investigator of the ESRC-funded Lost Mothers project, delivered in partnership with the charity Birth Companions and their lived experience team, which recently won the Criminal Justice Alliance Award for Research Excellence. A registered nurse and midwife, Laura is a Fellow of the Royal College of Midwives and a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. 

If you have any questions, please call The Japan Society office on 020 3075 1996 or email events@japansociety.org.uk.

Image: Art works by Beci Ward 

Supported by the Toshiba International Foundation (TIFO)

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