NCJ Number
144970
Journal
Yale Law and Policy Review Volume: 9 Issue: 1 Dated: (1991) Pages: 130-160
Date Published
1991
Length
31 pages
Annotation
This article examines the current practice of prosecuting women who abused drugs during pregnancy for allegedly harming their children in utero.
Abstract
The author compares the assumption that drug abuse in and of itself causes inevitable biological problems, to the Rorschach test, in which every person visualizes the ink blot in a different way, based on personal experience and background. While in utero drug exposure can severely harm infants, this author argues that these babies' physical and developmental problems are due to a combination of exposure, an association with drug use, and other factors completely unrelated to drug use. Prosecuting women who used drugs while pregnant does not achieve the prosecutors' goal of moving abusers into drug treatment programs because there is neither sufficient nor adequate treatment available and because prosecution deters, rather than encourages, participation in treatment. The author concludes that comprehensive care, including drug treatment, prenatal care, and skills training, provides the only viable solution to the problem of drug- exposed infants. 148 notes and 1 appendix