Contact your healthcare provider, local Alcoholics Anonymous, or local alcohol treatment center. Under states child abuse law, a parent is considered unfit if they test positive for substances within eight hours after delivery and have previously been convicted of child abuse or neglect or if they failed to complete a drug treatment program recommended by Child Protective Services. Federal Drug Laws. Supporters of these laws blame the mothers for the dissolution of their families, arguing that the mothers need only enroll in a drug treatment program to retain custody of their children. In three states Minnesota, South Dakota and Wisconsin women who use drugs during pregnancy can be involuntarily committed to a treatment program. 1991), People v. Hardy, 469 N.W.2d50 (Mich. Ct. App. The substances related to the charges included cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine, marijuana, and prescription pills. A new study co-authored by a University of Central Florida researcher shows that laws that punish substance use during pregnancy actually do more harm than good. Despite progress in the criminal legal system, the drug war remains almost unchallenged in the child protection system, and it is wreaking havoc on families. Tennessee is the only state with a statute that specifically makes it a crime to use drugs while pregnant. 488. first criminal charges brought against a woman for using drugs during pregnancy came in 1977 against Margaret Reyes. This conclusion should not be a surprise, given that appellate decisions are based on interpretation of law, not facts. 1 Unhealthy drug use is more commonly reported by young adults aged 18 to 25 . Contributions are tax deductible to the fullest extent allowable. The apparent lack of a link between the proscribed conduct and a distinct harm in a large number of the cases is one example of this significant limit to the rationale for criminalization. An example of this reasoning was articulated by the majority in State v. Welch: Cocaine use during pregnancy poses severe issues for affected babies both short and long-term. 1. More concerning, limited evidence suggests that punitive polices may deter women from prenatal care.49,,51 These policies also disproportionately affect minority and poor women.15,52 For example, in one study, black women who tested positive for substances at birth were reported to authorities at about 10 times the rate of white women, despite similar rates of substance use.47 Advocates of the punitive approach assert that drug courts can be used to compel treatment for pregnant women with substance use disorders. NAS is a group of withdrawal symptoms that most commonly occurs in newborns after exposure to opioids during pregnancy.If you are pregnant and using opioid pain medications, CDC recommends you talk to your provider before starting or stopping any medications to help you understand all of the risks and make the safest choice for you and your pregnancy. State Responses to Substance Abuse Among Pregnant Women, Concerns Mount over Punitive Approaches to Substance Abuse Among Pregnant Women. Several leading medical organizations opposed the legislation and cautioned that it would have a negative public health effect of scaring women away from seeking medical help. Ct. App. This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions. Dr. Appelbaum is Elizabeth K. Dollard Professor of Psychiatry, Medicine, and Law, Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University, and Director, Division of Law, Ethics, and Psychiatry, Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons, and NY State Psychiatric Institute, New York, NY. For example, Amanda Kimbrough's child was born prematurely and died shortly after birth, having tested positive for methamphetamine. This is all done under the cloak of what is in the best interest of the childbut that is ironic, because they are hurting my son.. Second, they claim that drug use during pregnancy is a reliable indicator of parental unfitness. 1996), State v. Aiwohi, 123 P.3d 1210 (Haw. To learn about CDC activities to educate the public about the harms of tobacco use, visit Tips From Former Smokers (Tips) from the Office on Smoking and Health. You can also call 1-800-QUIT-NOW (1-800-784-8669) for free support. Drugs with evidence of fetal harm were widely used. Kansas and Nebraska have no reporting or testing requirements, the survey says. Another major concern is addressing the harm that a child of any age can \ suffer when a parent's use of alcohol or other substances leads to neglect of the child, or the child is exposed to illegal drug activity. 1992), Johnson v. State, 602 So.2d 1288 (Fla. 1992), State v. Gray, 584 N.E.2d 710 (Ohio 1992), Commonwealth v. Welch, 864 S.W.2d 280, 283 (Ky. 1993), Sheriff, Washoe County, Nevada v. Encoe, 885 P.2d 596 (Nev. 1994), Collins v. State, 890 S.W.2d 893 (Tex. An official website of the State of Georgia. The use of prescription drugs during pregnancy, excluding supplements, in Ethiopia was high. Prescription Opioid Pain Reliever Use During Pregnancy, The US Opioid Crisis & Maternal Infant Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. After the passage of the 2014 law, this reasoning no longer applied, although it became relevant again with the fetal assault law's expiration in July 2016. They also found that cocaine users were more likely to use alcohol or other drugs during pregnancy: 88 percent of pregnant cocaine users smoked, 80 percent consumed alcohol, 72 percent smoked marijuana, 14 percent used opiates and 9 percent used other illicit drugs. In females, there is evidence that marijuana use may disrupt the menstrual cycle. It is, however, not known how many women, if any, have been convicted at the trial court level and not had their case heard at the appellate level. Support ProPublica's award-winning investigative journalism. We reviewed legal decisions regarding women charged with a crime against a fetus or child as a result of substance use during pregnancy. Call 1-800-GEORGIA to verify that a website is an official website of the State of Georgia. With the U.S. Supreme Court considering a high-profile case involving the prosecution of pregnant substance abusers, policymakers and advocates once again are confronted with the decade-old question of how best to deal with pregnant women who use drugs. Her infant tested positive for cocaine shortly after birth. The court also referred to rulings by appellate courts in other jurisdictions that had held similarly in comparable cases. Although this may be the case, the medical care mandated by many drug treatment courts falls well below the standard of care required for some pregnant women.53,54, Of note, the cases loosely reflect epidemiological trends in patterns of drugs of choice. Most states do not have a law that requires hospitals to test infants and new moms for controlled substances. Later in the pregnancy, these illicit drugs may cause. Theresearchis also clear that the results of a drug test alone are not an appropriate proxy for determining parental fitness. *The Alabama Supreme Court held that drug use while pregnant is considered chemical endangerment of a child. Smoking during and after pregnancy also increases the risk of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). Federal agencies collaborate with both state and local law enforcement to ensure effective controls over substances that are deemed to be a danger to individuals and to society. These same legislators would be hard-pressed to take babies away from mothers who were struggling with medical treatment for hypertension or diabetes. Twelve opinions noted that other jurisdictions ruled similarly when faced with such cases. Such inhumane responses to drug use can only exist because they are almost exclusively reserved for poor people and people of color. The city of Savannah decriminalized the possession of marijuana, effective July 1, 2018. A number of states require health care professionals to report or test for prenatal drug exposure, which can be used as evidence in child-welfare proceedings. Using these drugs during pregnancy may affect your baby's growth and puts you at higher risk of miscarriage, early labour, and placental abruption, where the placenta comes away from the wall of the womb . Professional advocacy may best be directed at state legislatures. These 24 cases included 29 women in 19 states who were prosecuted for criminal charges related to harm to a fetus or child as a result of substance use during pregnancy. A drug possession conviction in Georgia also results in the suspension of your driver's license. The effects of illegal drugs, such as cocaine, can be devastating on a fetus. This helps clinicians better understand the prevalence of marijuana use as they care for their pregnant patients and provide screening and treatment. App. A study Wexelblatt led between 2012 and 2013 found 5.4% of all mothers had a positive drug test on admission and 3.2% of the mothers tested positive for opioids. Substance use providers that accept Medicaid must give pregnant people priority in accessing services. The Guttmacher Institute is registered as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization under the tax identification number 13-2890727. Four courts noted that allowing a conviction would result in an absurd punishment scheme. (3) All of these cases were appellate decisions except for one published trial court decision,24 which we discuss separately, given that trial court decisions are not typically published and do not resolve matters of law. Exposing how the U.S. criminal legal system fails to keep people safe and perpetuates harm. In Alabama and South Carolina, the majority of state supreme court judges determined that the plain meaning of the word child includes a fetus, or in their term, an unborn child.16,,18 In the other 17 states that considered the question, the opposite conclusion was reached: that is, a fetus is not a child in the eyes of the law in those jurisdictions. At issue is whether the continued drug use of a newborn's mother is tantamount to "child abuse" that would give child protective services workers and law enforcement officers the ability to remove the child from the mother's care - even if the . Instead of punishing women for the chronic condition of addiction, something that is unethical, ineffective and inhumane, we should invest instead in the expansion of women- and family-friendly treatment resources, said Dr. Mishka Terplan, a professor in obstetrics and gynecology and psychiatry and associate director in addiction medicine at Virginia Commonwealth University. CPS immediately removed her newborn from her care, largely based on evidence of her opioid use. Sign In to Email Alerts with your Email Address. The Tips campaign features information about how smoking and secondhand smoking affect specific groups, including pregnant women or women planning to have a baby. Moreover, there is a great deal of overlap between drug use during pregnancy policies and alcohol/pregnancy policies. Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) funding, The Truth About Marijuana and the Criminal Legal System, Florida Cops Nearly Sent a Five-Year-Old to Jail, When It Comes to Reporting Deaths of Incarcerated People, Most States Break the Law, M. Forrest Behne, Craig Waleed, Meghan Peterson, and Lauren Brinkley-Rubinstein, Gay And Trans Panic Is Still Being Used To Justify Anti-LGBTQ Attacks. Opioid use disorder during pregnancy has been linked with serious negative health outcomes for pregnant women and developing babies, including preterm birth, stillbirth, maternal mortality, and neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS). Since the late 1980s, policymakers have debated the question of how society should deal with the problem of substance use during pregnancy. The treating pediatrician opined that the cause of death was respiratory arrest secondary to prematurity, whereas the medical examiner said that the cause of death was acute methamphetamine intoxication.18 Two of the opinions16,30 that directly referenced published medical literature referred to data that supported the conclusion that cocaine use during pregnancy creates a substantial and well-established risk to the unborn child and that this effect is within the scope of public knowledge. 31]. The first case was adjudicated in 1977 and the last case in 2015. Applying CDCs Guideline for Prescribing Opioids: Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration: American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) Committee Opinion: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) cannot attest to the accuracy of a non-federal website. If you need to go back and make any changes, you can always do so by going to our Privacy Policy page. 2023 Guttmacher Institute. For example, onestudyfound that parents who use opiates find babies less cutewhile conceivably notable, this finding does not meet the legal standard for terminating a parents rights. She had given birth approximately one year earlier to a child who had also tested positive for cocaine. It often relies on caseworker-confirmed reports of child maltreatment, despite thewell-documentedpropensity of caseworkers and family courts to base findings of child neglect on evidence of drug use alone. Meanwhile, several states have expanded their civil child-welfare requirements to include prenatal substance use, so that prenatal drug exposure can provide grounds for terminating parental rights because of child abuse or neglect. Approximately 700 women in the United States die every year . Prenatal drug exposure may also contribute to long-term behavioral effects and developmental deficits. Drug use during pregnancy is a severe problem worldwide because it exposes not only the woman but also her developing baby to harmful substances. Criminal or civil penalties discourage women from seeking prenatal care they need for fear of having their drug use discovered, critics say. Across the country, hundreds of pregnant women and new mothers have been accused of child abuse or other crimes when they or their newborns tested positive for controlled substances. Since 1973, authorities in at least 45 states have tried to prosecute women for exposing unborn children to drugs. She was charged with chemical endangerment of a child. You can also go to SAMHSAs Behavioral Health Treatment Services Locator. Wisconsin provides priority access to pregnant people in both general and private programs. In Minnesota and North Dakota, a test is required if there are drug-related complications at birth.