Drug War Issues
Politics & Advocacy
A Missouri bill that would criminalize drug use by pregnant woman got a hearing Tuesday, but the reception was not very friendly. A pair of similar bills in Tennessee died on the vine this week.
In Missouri, Sen. Brad Lager (R-Savannah), author of the bill, SB 459, ran into a skeptical reception at the state Senate Judiciary Committee. Sen. Jack Goodman (R-Mt. Vernon) got Lager to agree to an amendment that would block prosecution if the woman was seeking treatment, but that wasn't enough for Sen. Jolie Justus (D-Kansas City), who said the bill was unnecessary because there were already remedies for women who harmed their children.
Nor was it good enough for children's, welfare, and civil rights advocates. "We sit here in a room of privilege, but there are those who live in dire circumstances that we are blessed not to understand," said Colleen Coble of the Missouri Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence. For the targets of the bill, "the public policy means nothing," Coble said. "What they know is, you go to the doctor, you go to jail."
Also testifying against the bill were the American Civil Liberties Union, Planned Parenthood, and the Missouri Catholic Conference.
But Lager remained determined to forge forward, and a vote could take place as early as next week. "I just believe strongly that this type of action and this type of behavior cannot be condoned," he said.
A similar effort in Tennessee, however, has already bitten the dust, according to National Advocates for Pregnant Women, which released an analysis of the Tennessee bills that laid out the case against such legislation in general and in Tennessee in particular. The advocacy group has also produced a fact sheet delineating just what is wrong with criminalizing women who use drugs while pregnant.
Permission to Reprint: This content is licensed under a modified Creative Commons Attribution license. Content of a purely educational nature in Drug War Chronicle appear courtesy of DRCNet Foundation, unless otherwise noted.
Comments
includes toboacco & alcohol, right?
Tobacco & alcohol are the two leading causes of low birth weight babies and alcohol is second only to genetic defects in causing birth defects.
So if we're going to criminalize women who use drugs while pregnant, let's start w/ the two worst.
Get the government the hell out of our lives
I'm sick and damn tired of the friggin government being involved in every aspect of my damn life.
Who the hell are they giving someone else the rights to my piss. Or telling me what I can and can't smoke.F*ck them.
In reply to Get the government the hell out of our lives by Anonymous (not verified)
he who pays the piper....
Okay I'm in favor of legalization of marijuana for adults, and I wouldn't care who smoked, welfare or not, but two things about this issue:
1. if I as an overworked professional have to be subject to drug testing, then I don't have as much of a problem if people who are on public assistance have to. When I have to spend 10 hours a day making phone calls and shuffling papers around and dealing with bent out of shape customers, I don't give a hoot about welfare rights, I want a few rights....
2. I dont' know about marijuana, but it is true that tobacco and alcohol are the number one preventable cause of mental retardation and low birth weight. And that's just the beginnning of the list of childhood disorders associated with drugs and alcohol.
3. and a third point, if you have problems about being tested then do like I'm doing and get out from under those that you depend on. He who pays the piper calls the tune.
2.
In reply to he who pays the piper.... by Anonymous (not verified)
Control Your Piss... and Taxes Too!
Marijuana re-legalization is the only legal, and therefore constitutional, remedy to the scourge known as prohibition... which is currently being waged under the guise of regulation and the pretense of 'saving the children'.
If you can control your piss you can also control your tax donations... to the whore that represents amerika... ugly uncle scam.
I haven't given that scumbag a dime in years... how stupid would that be... giving your antagonists your hard earned money... so they can hunt you down and antagonize you more.... I don't fucking think so!
Do the right thing and donate money directly to the charities of your choosing... and tell ugly uncle scam to get a real job... that doesn't require coercion and extortion.
Remember that 70 cents of every tax dollar goes towards government overhead... only 30 cents trickles back down to the citizens... from which it was stolen!
Perhaps we should all take piss tests and send them into our favorite prohibitionist politician... better yet... pretend it's a water ballon and make them wear it!
iPOP (i Piss On Prohibitionists)
Job Security for Special Ed Teachers
and embryonic stem-cell researchers.
Non-addicted expectant mothers may choose to abort, rather than face being criminalized for having partied before knowing they were pregnant.
Addicted expectant mothers will avoid prenatal care. The suffering that results will be shared by all of us in a few years, and in a variety of ways.
This recipe calls for far more carrots without the stick.
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