what are the consequences of a mother if she is charged with substance abuse while pregnant?

Answer 1

On October 4, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Ferguson v. City of Charleston, a case brought by 10 women who were secretly tested for cocaine use while seeking routine prenatal care at a South Carolina public hospital. Women who tested positive were reported to local prosecutors and then arrested or threatened with arrest for criminal child abuse. The Court is considering whether the practice of testing pregnant women for drug use without either a warrant or consent and reporting them to law enforcement authorities violates their Fourth Amendment right to be free from unreasonable searches.

While no state has enacted a law specifically criminalizing drug use during pregnancy, prosecutors have relied on a host of criminal laws already on the books to attack prenatal substance abuse. Women across the nation have been arrested and charged with a wide range of crimes, including possession of a controlled substance, delivering drugs to a minor (through the umbilical cord), corruption of a minor, and child abuse and neglect. Others have been charged with assault with a deadly weapon and manslaughter.

Women who have appealed their convictions to their state supreme court have prevailed in all but one instance. Typically, courts have overturned these convictions on the grounds that a fetus could not be considered a child or person under criminal child abuse statutes, or that the legislature did not intend for an existing criminal statute to apply to a pregnant woman and her fetus. Other courts have found such convictions to be unconstitutional violations of women's rights to due process (because the state applied the law in a way that could not be foreseen by the pregnant woman) and privacy. Only in South Carolina has the state supreme court, in the 1997 case Whitner v. South Carolina, upheld the conviction of a woman charged with criminal child abuse for using cocaine during pregnancy. In that case, the court held that a viable fetus is a "person" under the state's criminal child endangerment statute, and that "maternal acts endangering or likely to endanger the life, comfort, or health of a viable fetus" could constitute child abuse.

Meanwhile, several states have expanded their child welfare laws to address prenatal drug exposure (treating the issue as a matter of civil rather than criminal law). These laws vary considerably in their scope and approach. Laws in 12 states (see table,) specify either that a child born exposed to drugs is presumed to be abused or neglected or that positive results from a toxicology test performed on a newborn or signs of prenatal drug exposure in newborns constitute evidence of child abuse or neglect. In these states, such evidence provides grounds for removing the infant from the mother's custody and qualifies as a factor in determining whether to terminate parental rights. Under the South Carolina law, for example, a newborn is presumed to be neglected and "cannot be protected from further harm without being removed from the custody of the mother" if there is a positive drug test on either the mother or the child at birth.

Additionally, the Ohio Supreme Court, in its October decision In re Baby Boy Blackshear, found that a newborn testing positive for drug exposure is per se an abused child under the state's civil child abuse law, even though the law makes no mention of prenatal drug exposure. The law defines an "abused child" as one who suffers "physical or mental injury that harms or threatens to harm the child's health or welfare." Unlike the lower court, the supreme court said that it need not address whether a fetus is a child under the state's child abuse law, since a "postbirth" drug test indicated that drug exposure, and therefore abuse, had occurred. Accordingly, the state was justified, the court said, in its decision to terminate parental rights. State supreme courts in Connecticut and New York, however, have refused to treat pregnant women who used drugs as presumptively neglectful, while the New Jersey Supreme Court held that a newborn's addiction and symptoms of withdrawal, combined with a mother's failure to provide care, could be considered as a factor in terminating parental rights.

Other states require health care professionals to report or test for prenatal drug exposure—information that the state may use as evidence in child welfare proceedings. Health care professionals in seven states are required to report to the state if a newborn tests positive for drug exposure or if a pregnant woman shows evidence of drug use. In Iowa, Minnesota and Virginia, health care professionals are required to test some or all pregnant women or newborns for prenatal drug exposure. Kentucky law says that provided a woman is given notice, a physician may screen her for drug use and then determine whether to make a report to the state. In Iowa and Kentucky, however, test results may not be used as prosecutorial evidence.

For a comprehensive listing of civil and criminal laws that directly address pregnant women's use of alcohol and other drugs, readers may wish to consult Year 2000 Overview: Governmental Responses to Pregnant Women Who Use Alcohol or Other Drugs, by Lynn M. Paltrow, David S. Cohen and Corinne A. Carey, published by the Women's Law Project ([e-mail]) and National Advocates for Pregnant Women ([e-mail]).

Answer 2

If u don't go 4 help while being pregnant u will lose your child to cas at birth.They now check every child at birth for drugs and if they already know then be prepared for them to not let u take your baby home.If you can get help now and also after birth they can verify how long u have been clean with a hair stran test it will show years of drugs u have done.Get help now if u want a life with your child.No child askes to b born to make a child to have to live with foster because of a habit is cruel.Try n think possitive and know u can vhange the outcome of what is going to happen.U can start ASAP if u love your child,this child needs u if u need to talk more about it and would like some help on what to do to make things better plz im me anytime k bye 4 now and good luck .No body can do it for u only u.

Answer 3

In my state if the baby has an illegal substance in his/her system at birth the state immediately removes the baby from the mother's care. During the pregnancy, any drug charges filed against the mother will almost ensure that Child Protective Services will step in to monitor the situation. If the mother gets the suggested help then she might get to keep her child.

Answer 4

good lord what is wrong with her!
the consequences would be whatever the courts decided for the legal part and for the pregnant part, lets hope that the baby is ok and hope that she plans on being a real mother to this child or giving the baby to someone who can be a real mother, that is just wrong. why would you do that to your baby, i dont get it.

Answer 5

The courts may take the child away once born.