Using illegal or street drugs during pregnancy, including cannabis, ecstasy, cocaine and heroin, can have a potentially serious effect on your unborn baby. New Jersey, however, does not view drug use during pregnancy as constituting child abuse or neglect on its own, unlike other states. As part of CDCs efforts to prevent overdoses and substance use-related harms, CDC is taking specific actions to prevent opioid use disorder among pregnant women and women who could become pregnant and to make sure women with opioid use disorder get proper treatment. The child was placed with CPS and now is in the custody of the great grandmother. Criminal or civil penalties discourage women from seeking prenatal care they need for fear of having their drug use discovered, critics say. Federal drug laws exist to control the use, manufacturing, possession, and distribution of various drugs that are legal and illegal. The balance in the courts in favor of treating substance use during pregnancy as a medical problem depends on the definition of a child for the purposes of criminal statutes. These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources so we can measure and improve the performance of our site. That said, there are a few things you should know about "drugs-while-pregnant" law across the U.S.: Most states have tried, at one point or another, to prosecute women for drug use during pregnancy. Dehumanizing Discourse, Anti-drug Law, and Policy in America: A "Crack Mother's" Nightmare . Termination of parental rights is a mechanism by which families are turned into strangers, all contact and personal identity is erased, and families are destroyed forever. Community after community has seen this in the aftermath oflocal crackdownson drug-using pregnant womenfewer women seek prenatal care and substance use treatment, even after the local authorities decide to change course. Intellectual & Developmental Disabilities, Applications for New & Existing Providers, Improving Health Outcomes Initiative Collaborative Learning Center, How to Report a Concern or Complaint about the Quality of Care or Safety, Facebook page for Georgia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities, Twitter page for Georgia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities, Linkedin page for Georgia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities, The Maternal Substance Abuse and ChildDevelopment, Maternal Substance Abuse and Child Development Project. It found that parents face long wait lists when accessing substance use treatment services and often dont have the means to pay. Unfortunately, many women of childbearing age in the U.S. use some form of illegal drug. This claim also disregards the seriousgapsin access to treatment for substance use disorders, especially for poor people, and the absence of a social safety net to even support struggling families in the first place. M. thought she was doing the right thing. Laws on drug testing of infants and new mothers vary, but the stakes are always high. In many places, women lose their children or end up in behind bars, sometimes even if the drug was prescribed. At the present time, the Center for MSACD fulfills several roles in Georgia by sponsoring clinical, prevention, and research programs. Further, some states, under the rubric of protecting the fetus, authorize civil commitment (such as forced admission to an inpatient treatment program) of pregnant people who use drugs; these policies sometimes also apply to alcohol use or other behaviors. Fetal or infant toxicology was reported in 24 of the pregnancies, and included positive findings for cocaine (n = 13), heroin (n = 1), and methamphetamine (n = 8) and one case wherein testing was negative for the relevant drug oxycodone, but the infant nonetheless displayed signs of withdrawal.31. In order to to avoid the risk of withdrawal and possibly harming her fetus, M. did what many pregnant women in her situation do she continued to use illicit opioids. As of 2018, 38 states had . We did not examine judicial decisions regarding women who have faced civil child abuse proceedings related to prenatal substance use. The substances being abused during pregnancy can include alcohol, cocaine, heroin, and opioid addiction. Enter multiple addresses on separate lines or separate them with commas. In the three judicial opinions that upheld convictions, the court determined that the legislature intended to include fetuses in the definition of child for the purposes of the relevant statute. Sign In to Email Alerts with your Email Address. Priority applies to pregnant people referred for treatment. Although pregnancy is an exciting time, there are stresses and risks that come with pregnancy and the postpartum period. -- A Tennessee woman is the first to be charged under a new state law that specifically makes it a crime to take drugs while pregnant . One local news source investigated Poolaw's case in conjunction with 45 other pregnant women across the state charged with felony child abuse, neglect, or manslaughter in relation with substance use since 2017. Not coincidentally, in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, as Arizonas social safety net shrank, its foster care numbers soared. July 14, 2014 -- Though the first mother has been charged under a new Tennessee law that makes it a crime to use drugs while pregnant, many of the most respected medical groups have opposed . We developed categories of relevant variables to code a priori. We identified 24 judicial opinions published between 1977 and 2015 in cases involving 29 women prosecuted in 19 states. Charges included child endangerment, child abuse, drug delivery, attempted aggravated child abuse, chemical endangerment of a child, child neglect, child mistreatment, homicide, manslaughter, and reckless injury to a child. This helps clinicians better understand the prevalence of marijuana use as they care for their pregnant patients and provide screening and treatment. Webster v. Reproductive Health services: the AMA position, Prosecuting pregnant women for drug use during pregnancy: the criminal justice system should step out and the affordable care act should step up, People v. Morabito, 580 N.Y.S.2d 843 (N.Y. City Ct. 1992), Reyes v. Superior Court, 75 Cal. To date, the United States Supreme Court has declined to hear cases that raise questions about the constitutionality of such laws. A drug possession conviction in Georgia also results in the suspension of your driver's license. A recent addition to the Center is Mother To Baby Georgia, a service providing evidence-based information to women about exposures to medications and other substances during pregnancy. 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. Keywords: laws, policies, substance use, care, treatment, infants, neglect Created Date: 8/17/2022 9:48:14 PM Smoking during and after pregnancy also increases the risk of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). *The Alabama Supreme Court held that drug use while pregnant is considered chemical endangerment of a child. Based on results of this analysis, the authors jointly finalized the coding scheme, which was then applied to all of the identified cases. Heroin is an illicit opioid. These unintended consequences include keeping women from getting the treatment they need and failing to reduce the number of babies addicted to drugs. The city of Savannah decriminalized the possession of marijuana, effective July 1, 2018. 10 states prohibit publicly funded drug treatment programs from discriminating against pregnant people. 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. The discourse about criminalization of substance use in pregnancy suggests that women are at serious risk of successful prosecution for illicit drug use during pregnancy.8,15 Based on our review of published judicial decisions, this does not appear to be the case in most jurisdictions. A November study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association tracked the rise of laws that criminalized taking drugs while pregnant, as well as classifying drug use during pregnancy as child abuse that could result in loss of custody rights or as grounds for a civil commitment. SUBSTANCE USE DURING PREGNANCY CONSIDERED: WHEN DRUG USE DIAGNOSED OR SUSPECTED, STATE REQUIRES: Pregnant People Given Priority Access in General Programs, Pregnant People Protected from Discrimination in Publicly Funded Programs. Substance use providers that accept Medicaid must give pregnant people priority in accessing services. Additional cases were identified by reviewing the cases cited in the initial set of cases and published literature, yielding an additional nine cases. The South Carolina Supreme Court held that a viable fetus is a "person" under the state's criminal child-endangerment statute and that "maternal acts endangering or likely to endanger the life, comfort, or health of a viable fetus" constitute criminal child abuse. The South Carolina Supreme Court held that a viable fetus is a "person" under the state's criminal child-endangerment statute and that "maternal acts endangering or likely to endanger the life, comfort, or health of a viable fetus" constitute criminal child abuse. State law prohibits a medical provider from releasing information about a pregnant individuals drug or alcohol test without the patients consent. 2005), Kilmon v. State, 905 A.2d 306, 314 (Md. But, for that matter, she could have been a pregnant alcoholic, causing fetal alcohol syndrome; or she could have been addicted to self abuse by smoking, or by abusing prescription painkillers, or over-the-counter medicine; or for that matter she could have been addicted to downhill skiing or some other sport creating serious risk of prenatal injury, risk which the mother wantonly disregarded as a matter of self-indulgence. One published trial court decision was identified.24 In this case, a New York trial court in 1992 dismissed the charge of child endangerment for cocaine ingestion during pregnancy. 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. Illegal drugs in pregnancy. Although briefs from medical or public health organizations supporting the defendants' position were submitted to the court in 29 percent of the cases (n = 7), only one majority ruling directly referenced a medical or public health organization amicus brief. Women might use opioids as prescribed, misuse prescription opioids, use illicit opioids such as heroin, or use opioids (opioid agonists and/or antagonists) as treatment for opioid use disorder. The other opinion33 that directly referenced medical literature did so to demonstrate the range of behaviors that are not legally proscribed (e.g., smoking, failing to obtain prenatal care) that are associated with poor neonatal outcomes. 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.