A lawsuit filed this week accuses Vermont’s child welfare agency of using baseless allegations about a pregnant woman’s mental health to secretly investigate her and win custody of her daughter before the baby’s birth.

The ACLU of Vermont and Pregnancy Justice, a national advocacy group, filed the lawsuit on Wednesday against the Vermont Department for Children and Families, a counseling center and the hospital where the woman gave birth in February 2022.

In the lawsuit, the state also faces accusations that it routinely tracks pregnant women deemed unsuitable to be mothers.

The lawsuit asks for unspecified monetary damages for the woman, who is identified only by her initials, A.V., and an end to what it describes as an illegal surveillance program.

This photograph shows the logo of the American Civil Liberties Union. (KAREN BLEIER/AFP via Getty Images)

“What DCF did here is incredibly cruel,” Ijaz said. “It’s discriminatory. Its state sanctioned surveillance and stalking, and it violates Vermont’s newly enshrined right to reproductive autonomy in its state constitution. This is an opportunity for Vermont to signal to other states, as a leader, and say that these rights don’t just exist on paper. They exist in practice, too.”

Stark said the allegations in Vermont are particularly troubling since the state has described itself as a haven for reproductive rights.

“To discover evidence that a state agency is essentially colluding with certain medical providers to collect information without folks’ knowledge or consent and expanding its jurisdiction unlawfully to investigate folks based on what are essentially decisions about their own reproductive health is incredibly alarming,” he said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.