Good Law Gone Bad

You can view a “cheat sheet” given to medical personnel about addicted or alcoholic mothers here. It was generated from a 2007 Louisiana statute about prenatal child neglect. In essence, the law requires medical personnel who suspect neglect to report it to child protective services. Child protective services is then tasked with investigating and filing charges if warranted.

The range of what counts as prenatal neglect sounds fairly straightforward – an addicted child is born or drugs that weren’t prescribed appear in the babies system. If that was where the story ended, it would be reasonable. The problem comes in when the law is extended to mean any activity undertaken by a mother than endangers the life of her unborn child. Furthermore, medical personal do not have to prove anything, if they observe behavior in the baby or physical defects that are associated with substance abuse, they are required to report.

In early June, L.D. 1463 was voted down in the Louisiana legislature. In effect, this measure would further increase penalties against pregnant women who put their fetus at risk. While that measure didn’t pass, the issue is far from dead. Some examples from other states show the possible outcomes of so called “chemical endangerment” laws: One woman who attempted suicide while pregnant (she took rat poison) survived with treatment. Her fetus did not. She has been charged with murder. And that isn’t an isolated case – another woman currently faces charges because the drugs she was taking after the baby was born were transmitted in her breast milk.

It doesn’t matter if the mother has ill intent or is just naïve. In Alabama, several dozen women have been charged under their statute – sometimes even when no drugs were found in the infant and only because they tested positive for drug or alcohol use.

Certainly addicted babies and fetal alcohol syndrome are serious and tragic outcomes. No infant should have to start life handicapped in this way. But do we want to put mothers behind bars as a remedy? Will the threat of possible jail even work? More likely, it won’t lessen the problem, but just increase the number of women incarcerated. Forced treatment for addiction in pregnant women would give them at least a chance, before the damage is done. After all, there are two victims here.

More examples can be found at the Planned Parenthood site.