This report is part of “America After Roe,” an examination of the impact of the reversal of Roe v. Wade on health care, culture, policy and people, produced by Carnegie-Knight News21.
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — A tall young woman with dark eyes and blonde highlights opens Door 13 to her temporary bedroom.
“The first time … honestly, I was just so angry. I was mad at the system. I was mad at the judges. I didn’t feel like they were being fair and giving me a chance, because I had no priors,” the 26-year-old said.Mother’s Hope is operated by Aletheia House, a statewide organization that treats substance use and addiction by men and women.
Even before the Supreme Court’s 2022 ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization – eliminating federal abortion protections and returning regulation to the states – actions to criminalize behavior during pregnancy took place across the country. – In 2010, an Iowa woman was arrested for feticide after falling down the stairs in what police called an attempt to kill her unborn child. She said she tripped. Ultimately, prosecutors decided not to press charges.
– In 2019, a California woman was charged with murder after taking methamphetamine while pregnant, resulting in a stillbirth. A judge later dismissed the charge, saying prosecutors failed to show she took drugs with the knowledge or intent to harm her baby.Even before the Supreme Court’s 2022 ruling in Dobbs v.
– In 2010, an Iowa woman was arrested for feticide after falling down the stairs in what police called an attempt to kill her unborn child. She said she tripped. Ultimately, prosecutors decided not to press charges. – In 2019, a California woman was charged with murder after taking methamphetamine while pregnant, resulting in a stillbirth. A judge later dismissed the charge, saying prosecutors failed to show she took drugs with the knowledge or intent to harm her baby.
Lawmakers passed the 2006 measure amid a methamphetamine crisis, to help prevent children from being exposed to controlled substances in homes and places like meth labs. But then police and prosecutors began applying it to fetuses exposed to substances in the womb. “In Alabama,” she said, “these cases can be brought against anyone who tests positive for drugs during pregnancy or at delivery. So we’re talking about positive marijuana tests. We’re talking about, back in 2015, women who had used drugs prescribed by their doctors. It was just extremely broadly applied.”According to Pregnancy Justice, more than 20% of pregnancy-related cases in Alabama originate in Etowah County, which comprises about 2% of the state’s total population.
“In this particular case, they just assumed somebody was pregnant without any proof,” said Freeman’s lawyer, Martin Weinberg, who claims the sheriff’s investigator told Freeman that if she were to later get pregnant, she’d be arrested again. “Some didn’t have … the level of addiction that they needed to qualify for beds,” Yurkanin said. “So in practice … Etowah County was keeping pregnant women and postpartum women in jail for sometimes months at a time before they had gone to trial or been found guilty for this chemical endangerment charge.”
‘I do need this’Forced treatment for substance use, whether through the courts or involuntary commitment, is an idea that has gained momentum amid the nation’s opioid epidemic, even in blue states like California. “There are people who say, ‘It saved my life to be required to go to treatment,’ and there are other people for whom it’s a coercive, terrible situation,” Retan said.The residential facility can house up to 16 mothers for treatment of substance use. The regimen includes therapy, peer support, meditation, chores and parenting classes.
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