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They Lost Their Pregnancies. Then Prosecutors Sent Them to Prison
https://www.themarshallproject.org/2022/09/01/they-lost-their-pregnancies-then-prosecutors-sent-them-to-prisonSome were already mothers, excited about having another baby. Others were upset or frightened to find themselves pregnant. All tested positive for drugs. And when these women lost their pregnancies, each ended up in jail.
More than 50 women have been prosecuted for child neglect or manslaughter in the United States since 1999 because they tested positive for drug use after a miscarriage or stillbirth, according to an investigation by The Marshall Project, The Frontier and AL.com that was co-edited and published in partnership with The Washington Post.
The medical community calls this legal approach harmful and counterproductive. But it’s a strategy many legal experts say is likely to become more common now that Roe v. Wade has been overturned, making it easier for states to pass laws that give fetuses and embryos the same rights as children or their mothers.
An analysis of court records and medical examiner data over the last 23 years found at least 20 felony cases in Alabama, 14 in South Carolina and 10 in Oklahoma, as well as nine in other states where prosecutors have embraced some form of “fetal personhood” in bringing criminal charges after miscarriage or stillbirth. Many of the prosecutions resulted in lengthy prison sentences and life-altering consequences for mostly poor women who were struggling with addiction.
In 20 additional cases, women in Alabama, Oklahoma and South Carolina were prosecuted after positive drug tests because their babies died shortly after birth.
More than 50 women have been prosecuted for child neglect or manslaughter in the United States since 1999 because they tested positive for drug use after a miscarriage or stillbirth, according to an investigation by The Marshall Project, The Frontier and AL.com that was co-edited and published in partnership with The Washington Post.
The medical community calls this legal approach harmful and counterproductive. But it’s a strategy many legal experts say is likely to become more common now that Roe v. Wade has been overturned, making it easier for states to pass laws that give fetuses and embryos the same rights as children or their mothers.
An analysis of court records and medical examiner data over the last 23 years found at least 20 felony cases in Alabama, 14 in South Carolina and 10 in Oklahoma, as well as nine in other states where prosecutors have embraced some form of “fetal personhood” in bringing criminal charges after miscarriage or stillbirth. Many of the prosecutions resulted in lengthy prison sentences and life-altering consequences for mostly poor women who were struggling with addiction.
In 20 additional cases, women in Alabama, Oklahoma and South Carolina were prosecuted after positive drug tests because their babies died shortly after birth.
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... Many medical groups say that criminal prosecutions discourage women from seeking prenatal care and could lead to more deaths — of pregnant patients and babies.
That’s what happened when Tennessee passed a “fetal homicide” law in 2014 to prosecute people who tested positive for narcotics after giving birth. Doctors reported a sharp increase in the number of women avoiding prenatal care for fear of getting arrested, while the number of babies born in withdrawal from narcotics did not drop. The law expired within two years.
A group of Oklahoma doctors signed a letter last year asking local officials to stop seeking criminal punishment for miscarriages and stillbirths: “The prosecution of expecting and new mothers who use substances is terrible public policy for both babies and moms,” they wrote. “We are gravely concerned that prosecutors willfully ignore medical science in pursuit of these harmful prosecutions.”
That’s what happened when Tennessee passed a “fetal homicide” law in 2014 to prosecute people who tested positive for narcotics after giving birth. Doctors reported a sharp increase in the number of women avoiding prenatal care for fear of getting arrested, while the number of babies born in withdrawal from narcotics did not drop. The law expired within two years.
A group of Oklahoma doctors signed a letter last year asking local officials to stop seeking criminal punishment for miscarriages and stillbirths: “The prosecution of expecting and new mothers who use substances is terrible public policy for both babies and moms,” they wrote. “We are gravely concerned that prosecutors willfully ignore medical science in pursuit of these harmful prosecutions.”
- more at link -
Clearly the health and well-being of the moms and babies are of no concern to the prosecutors in these states.
