The War on Drugs Aims its Sights on Pregnant Women

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http://www.alternet.org/drugs/war-drugs-aims-its-sights-pregnant-women



The prosecution of pregnant women for drug use represents the unhappy convergence of the war on drugs and the war on reproductive rights.

Like other failed policies of the war on drugs, the prosecution of pregnant women ignores science, evidence, and health in favor of stigmatization and punishment. And it comes at a huge cost, paid primarily by women of color, poor women, and the children of these women who will be cut off from prenatal care and perhaps removed from their families in the state’s zeal to punish their mothers.

Unfortunately, just this week, the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that women can be charged under the state’s chemical endangerment law if they become pregnant and use a controlled substance. The Drug Policy Alliance joined with National Advocates for Pregnant Women and the Southern Poverty Law Center to file amicus briefs in a number of cases of pregnant women wrongly prosecuted in Alabama on behalf of 49 medical, public health, and health advocacy groups and experts opposing the judicial expansion of the chemical endangerment law to pregnant women and mothers.

While some states, like Alabama, prosecute pregnant women under the criminal laws or child neglect and endangerment laws of the state, Tennessee is, unfortunately, on the verge of enacting the first law in the country that would authorize the arrest, prosecution and incarceration of drug-using pregnant womenrather than providing them with what they most need—health care. Gov. Bill Haslam has until Monday to veto the bill. A petition is being circulated to urge the governor to veto the bill.

[Ilsa]

1. My family has dealt with this issue.

It is infuriating to know that a young pregnant relative is on opiates. But at least we knew she was under the care of a doctor.

BTW, the mother-to-be had several hospitalizations near the end of her pregnancy and gave birth early to a very underweight baby. The baby was in the hospital for the next two months. I don't know if the child is developing normally now or has health problems.

My preference would have been that she choose either drugs or pregnancy when she learned she was pregnant. Having a healthy baby can be difficult enough without the drugs.

I wonder if such a law would also cause more early miscarriages, or just sicker babies due to even earlier than term deliveries? I'm guessing both.

I'm also guessing that this law could be abused, calling just about anything a narcotic, just to control pregnant women.