SUBSTANCE ABUSE AMONG PREGNANT WOMEN: PUBLIC POLICY APPROACHES
This research paper examines and discusses the public policy approaches taken by state and federal authorities in the United States to the problems presented by the ingestion by pregnant women of illegal drugs or other substances which may be hazardous to the health of the fetuses they carry.
Beginning in the 1960s, growing public awareness of the prevalence of child abuse led to the passage of federal and state legislation designed to afford greater protection to children. The increased use of illegal drugs, especially crack cocaine in the inner cities, resulted in the prosecution since the late 1980s of hundreds of women who had ingested dangerous drugs during their pregnancies. However, efforts to criminalize drug use during pregnancy have been almost universally rejected when they were tested in state courts and present serious federal constitutional barriers which have not yet been adjudicated. Nevertheless, the Supreme Court of one state, South Carolina, in 1996 legitimized such prosecutions and recently enacted fetal protection laws in a small number of other states could be used to facilitate such prosecutions. Meanwhile, laws permitting state child welfare agencies to obtain access to data relating to prenatal drug use derived from maternal postnatal drug tests have been used to justify the temporary and permanent removal of drug-affected babies from their mothers. Public policy considerations largely militate against attempts to solve the problem through criminal prosecutions and convictions and in favor of a more balanced approach, one emphasizing serious attempts to prevent and treat drug-dependent pregnant mothers. However, relatively little public support or funding is available to support more sensible alternatives.
New Public Policy Approaches to the Problem of Child Abuse
Traditionally, child abuse was treated primarily as a problem to b...