|
|
This is only a preview of the paper
Click here to register and get the full text.
Existing members click here to login
|
|
|
... Women are at a crossroads of the war on drugs and that of reproductive rights. There are advocates on both sides of the issue from policy-makers to Child Welfare to Pro-choice groups to drug alliances.
Conservatives regard prenatal drug use as simply child abuse in its most destructive form. ...
On the opposite side, many feminists and advocates of "harm reduction" as the basis for drug abuse control policy see harsh policies as both foolish and unconstitutional-foolish because such policies deter pregnant women from seeking care, unconstitutional because such policies violate the autonomy of pregnant women (King, 1991).
Labeling drug use while pregnant as child abuse makes many womenˇ¦s rights and abortion rights advocates apprehensive. ...
The majority of women prosecuted have been low-income women of color (Kolata, 1990) despite the fact that most women who use illicit drugs while pregnant are white (Mathias, 1995). ... It is clear from the women interviewed that substance abuse among women is not a problem confined to those who are poor, black, or urban but crosses racial, class, economic and geographic boundaries (Gehshan, 1993).
In 1997, the South Carolina Supreme Court upheld a conviction that a womanˇ¦s prenatal substance abuse constituted criminal child abuse. ... Many state policies vary in regards to pregnant women and substance abuse. ... Wisconsin authorizes civil commitment to protect an unborn child at any stage of development (Guttmacher, 2003). The laws drafted in most states apply only after the child is born.
The Fetal Rights Act of 1997 stating that women who knowingly use substances harmful to the fetus during pregnancy can be charged with child abuse.
Approximate Word count = 1248
Approximate Pages = 5
(250 words per page double spaced)
|
|
|
|
|
|