Hundreds prosecuted for drug use during pregnancy in year after Dobbs

A A new report from a reproductive rights organization finds that pregnancy-related prosecutions have reached an all-time high following the 2022 Supreme Court decision that struck down nationwide abortion rights. And by far the most common crime pregnant women face is that they used marijuana or other drugs during their pregnancy.

Some women are even being prosecuted for medical cannabis use as registered patients under state law.

The Pregnancy Justice group's report identified 210 criminal cases against people for behavior related to pregnancy, pregnancy loss or childbirth in the first year afterward Dobbs Judgment that was overturned Roe v. Wade. Of those, 203 cases – almost 97 percent – ​​involved allegations of substance use during pregnancy. In 133 of these cases, drug use was the only allegation.

“In five of these cases, the defendant possessed a medical marijuana card indicating that she was accused of taking legally prescribed medications.”

Marijuana was the second most frequently cited drug in court charges after methamphetamine. Allegations of cannabis use appeared in 86 of the 210 cases. In more than a third of these cases, THC consumption was the only allegation underlying the criminal charges.

“It is significant that in 86 cases the police or prosecutors alleged that the defendant had ingested some form of THC during her pregnancy, and in 31 of those 86 cases the prosecution relied only on THC consumption,” it said new report. “Even more shocking, in five of these cases, there were statements in the court records that the defendant had a medical marijuana card, indicating that she was accused of taking legally prescribed medication.”

Image via Pregnancy Justice

Additionally, Pregnancy Justice said in a press release about the report that “in the vast majority of cases (191), the charges brought against the pregnant person did not require 'evidence' of harm to the fetus or baby, only a perceived risk of harm.” .”

The report “Pregnancy as a Crime: A Preliminary Report on the First Year After.” Dobbs“looks at cases from June 24, 2022 to June 23, 2023. The authors say the research “is ongoing and will lead to additional reports in the coming years.”

The number of prosecutions related to pregnancy has increased since then Dobbs In the ruling, the report emphasizes that the targeted prosecution of pregnant people for drug offenses has a long history.

Image via Pregnancy Justice

“As has been the case for decades, in almost all cases it is alleged that the pregnant person used a substance during pregnancy,” the report said. “As drug use habits have changed, pregnancy law enforcement has shifted from targeting the use of crack cocaine to focusing on the use of methamphetamines, amphetamines, marijuana and opiates.”

The authors said the project aimed to explore how criminal law could be used to prosecute pregnant people in the aftermath Dobbs.

“We learned that the prosecutions in the year following Dobbs represent a high point in the criminalization of pregnancy.”

“Following the Dobbs “After making our decision, we wanted to answer the question of how criminal laws would be used to prosecute pregnancy-related acts,” Wendy Bach, lead investigator on the report and a professor at the University of Tennessee School of Law, said in the press release.

“We learned that the prosecutions in the year following Dobbs represent a high point in the criminalization of pregnancy, as pregnant people are increasingly suspected and monitored,” she said. “With this report, we hope that more attention will be paid to pregnancy-related law enforcement and that more advocates will work to reverse course on the criminalization of pregnant people.”

Prosecution rates vary significantly across the country, according to the report. Alabama, for example, accounted for nearly half of the prosecutions with 104, followed by Oklahoma with 68 and South Carolina with 10.

The majority of defendants charged in pregnancy cases were also low-income, the report said.

In Oklahoma, local news began reporting in 2022 that prosecutors there were targeting pregnant women for using medical marijuana, resulting in child neglect charges being filed against 26 mothers. The crime can carry up to a life sentence in Oklahoma.

Then in July, a state court ruled that people cannot be prosecuted for child neglect for legally using medical marijuana during pregnancy.

In 2022, an Alabama Senate committee passed a bill that would require women who want medical marijuana to provide a negative pregnancy test.

Photo by HAH Photography via Flickr/Creative Commons 2.0

This story was originally published by Marijuana momentwhich follows the politics and politics of cannabis and drugs. Follow Marijuana moment To Twitter and Facebook and subscribe to the newsletter.