Women And Drugs
Drug-Testing Pregnant Women
Is it Legal?
The U.S. Supreme Court will determine whether testing pregnant women for drug use is a violation of the U.S. Constitution, the Associated Press reported Feb. 28, 2000.
The issue centers on a South Carolina public hospital's policy, which is designed to detect pregnant women who use crack cocaine. The court will decide whether the policy violates Fourth Amendment rights against unreasonable searches.
"On one level, the question before the court is whether pregnant women have lesser constitutional rights than other Americans," said Simon Heller of the center for Reproductive Law and Policy, one of the lawyers representing 10 women who tested positive.
Heller said some of the women who tested positive were arrested "right out of their hospital beds, still bleeding from having given birth." The women were arrested under the state's child-endangerment law, which targets women who use illegal drugs while pregnant.
"South Carolina's policy of protecting unborn children from their mother's cocaine abuse will continue even at public hospitals," said South Carolina Attorney General Charlie Condon. "Search warrants can be used as well as consents to search." The Medical University of South Carolina, however, discontinued testing after a 1993 lawsuit.
A federal jury ruled against the women, and an appeals court upheld the decision. Condon said the case before the Supreme Court will not hinder the state's efforts. "There is no constitutional right for a pregnant mother to use drugs. The unborn child has a constitutional right to protection from its mother's drug abuse," he said.
But Lynn Paltrow of the Women's Law center called the policy "bad medicine" because it discourages a women from seeking prenatal care.
Originally posted at the
Substance Abuse area of about.com.
Books Crack Mothers:
Pregnancy, Drugs, and the Media
Beginning in the late 1980s, the crack mother scare led to an unprecedented alliance between doctors and prosecutors, where doctors turned in addicted low-income minority pregnant women to the police for arrest, trial, and incarceration. While middle class white women weren't treated in the same manner.
The instant addiction of crack cocaine and its threat to the health of women and infants were exaggerated by the media and used to justify harsher social agendas regarding women and minorities.
The book is a well-researched examination of the severe treatment of addicted low-income minority pregnant women. An issue that has not gone away.
---Vanessa Bush
Crack Mothers Pregnant Women on Drugs:
Combating Stereotypes and Stigma
A book that tries to fight stereotypes of pregnant drug users as selfish and unfeeling women who don't care about their baby.
It shows the extent to which many drug-using women develop the motivation to achieve their dual goals of improving their children's health and maintaining maternal custody.
Pregnant Women on Drugs The Nature of Nurture:
Biology, Environment, and the Drug-Exposed Child
Explores the biological and environmental factors that impact the ultimate development of drug-exposed children and presents practical strategies for helping children reach their full potential at home and in the classroom.
The health consequences for children exposed to alcohol, cocaine, and other drugs are enormous, but the implications for behavior and learning are even greater.
The Nature of Nurture When the Bough Breaks:
Pregnancy and the Legacy of Addiction
This is a remarkable book! It deals with the problem of pregnancy and addiction in a genuinely unique way, combining poems and photographs to bring home the gravity of the issue and the way it impacts on so many women's lives.
When the Bough Breaks
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