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Thursday, May 01, 2008

Ind. Courts - "Should drug-addicted pregnant women be criminalized?"

Angela Mapes Turner of the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette had a lengthy story last Sunday, April 27th, headed: "Pregnant addicts blur crime debate: Authorities waver on punishment for neglect, abuse." Some quotes from the thoughtful report:

In December 2006, police say, Brooke Honaker was using methamphetamine.

Honaker, who was 21 at the time, already was on probation when she tested positive twice for the drug.

The bigger problem?

She was pregnant.

In June 2007, LaGrange County authorities charged her with neglect of a dependent, a felony. Honaker’s ongoing case – another hearing is scheduled for Monday – reflects an issue that periodically surfaces throughout the U.S.

Should drug-addicted pregnant women be criminalized?

Opponents say prosecution of such crimes can deter a pregnant drug addict from seeking prenatal care or help for her addiction, while supporters say drug use by pregnant women causes harm and should result in punishment.

The story references a 1993 Fort Wayne case, where formal charges also were filed against a pregnant crack cocaine user who premature one-pound infant died:
If Judge Kenneth Scheibenberger set precedent by continuing with the charges, it could dissuade other pregnant addicts from seeking prenatal care, Paltrow said.

Scheibenberger ruled that to be accused of reckless homicide in Indiana, a person must engage in reckless behavior that results in the death of a human being. A fetus, according to state law, was not a human being, he said in his ruling. The reckless homicide charge was dropped.

The issue, as Scheibenberger acknowledged in his ruling, often devolves into an argument over when human life begins – part of the core debate regarding abortion.

That debate doesn’t necessarily apply in Honaker’s case, LaGrange County Prosecutor Jeff Wible said. The judge tasked to Honaker’s case won’t be asked to judge harm to a fetus but rather issues that Honaker’s child might develop later in life.

If called to testify, a doctor who has examined Honaker’s child will say that Honaker’s meth use hasn’t caused detectable damage at this time, but that the meth use will be detrimental to the child’s health and well-being, Wible said.

“The judge will have to decide if future harm is enough to justify a conviction,” he said.

More from the story:
National Advocates for Pregnant Women, which describes itself as focused on human and civil rights, especially those of low-income, drug-using or minority women, said drug-addicted women who continue to use while pregnant are struggling with the disease of addiction. Criminalizing them is counterproductive to both maternal and fetal health, the group contends.

That organization has also spoken out against a series of recent prosecutions in Alabama. In March, the New York Times reported that in the past 18 months at least eight women have been prosecuted for using drugs while pregnant in a southern Alabama community.

“If a pregnant woman can be viewed as a child abuser before she ever gives birth, or as a murderer because she cannot guarantee a healthy birth outcome, she ceases to exist as a full human being and full rights-bearing citizen,” the organization said in a statement on the Alabama prosecutions.

A 2006 joint study by the Indiana University School of Medicine and the Bowen Research Center, conducted for the Indiana State Department of Health, also quoted many health care providers and women as saying criminalizing pregnant women may keep them from seeking prenatal care.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on May 1, 2008 02:34 PM
Posted to Indiana Courts