Court Overturns Pregnancy Ban Involving Iowa Woman

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The Iowa Court of Appeals has thrown out the sentence for a Mason City woman which prohibited her from becoming pregnant while on probation for a child endangerment conviction.

The court says the sentence violates the woman's "fundamental right to procreation."

Stephanie Fatland appealed her child endangerment convictions and challenged her sentence.

At her sentencing last August District Court Judge James Drew placed her on probation for five years and, among the conditions of probation, prohibited her from becoming pregnant during probation.

The appeals court on Wednesday upheld the conviction but ordered resentencing for removal of the pregnancy prohibition.

Fatland, now 24, admitted to shaking her 5-month-old son after he was hospitalized in July 2014 with bleeding in his retinas and a bulge in the soft spot of his head.