Crime or not a crime?

[Katie Morton]

In Missouri, they are getting ready to pass a law that says; a person doing ANY drug while pregnant is a crime. 14 years ago I was charges with smoking marijuana while pregnant, and I lost years of my life, that I can't get back; due to my felony is always on my record.. Can't I sue my county for this?

 

[quincy]

In Missouri, they are getting ready to pass a law that says; a person doing ANY drug while pregnant is a crime. 14 years ago I was charges with smoking marijuana while pregnant, and I lost years of my life, that I can't get back; due to my felony is always on my record.. Can't I sue my county for this?

Missouri has tried before to enact a law criminalizing the use of drugs when pregnant. If it does pass a law this year, it will join only one other state in the country (Tennessee) that makes drug use during pregnancy a criminal act.

Here is a link from Guttmacher Institute on state policies as of January 1, 2016, on substance abuse during pregnancy, which shows that most states recognize it as child abuse: http://www.guttmacher.org/statecenter/spibs/spib_SADP.pdf

Can you sue your county if you use drugs when pregnant? You would not have much chance of success with such a suit (depending on the drug in question and its medical need).

 

[OHRoadwarrior]

I believe some state prosecute that under felony child neglect when the baby tests positive at birth.

 

[justalayman]

In Missouri, they are getting ready to pass a law that says; a person doing ANY drug while pregnant is a crime. 14 years ago I was charges with smoking marijuana while pregnant, and I lost years of my life, that I can't get back; due to my felony is always on my record.. Can't I sue my county for this?

huh? You were convicted of a crime 14 years ago based on a law they are getting ready to pass? Why would you be due anything?

Oh, I get it. I presume you were convicted of a crime that was in existence at the time of your conviction. Presumably it was not the same law they are about to pass.

but a law that says a person doing ANY drug while pregnant is a crime is unconstitutional and unenforceable due to it being too broad and ambiguous.

 

[quincy]

Here is a link to Missouri House Bill 1903, with the text of the bill available for reading:
http://www.house.mo.gov/billsummary.aspx?bill=HB1903&year=2016&code=R

Drugs in the Bill are defined as "a narcotic drug or controlled substance without prescription."

When one of my kids was born prematurely, we spent a lot of time in a neonatal intensive care unit. Although our baby was by far the smallest of the babies temporarily housed in the unit, the babies that were often most at risk were those born to drug-addicted mothers. It was not easy watching these babies go through withdrawal. A few did not survive.

In many states, if a baby tests positive for drugs at birth, CPS will step in and parental rights can be terminated.

If any woman is thinking of getting pregnant or has just learned she is pregnant, and if she has a drug abuse problem, she should seek drug counseling and treatment immediately. It does not take the passage of a law to know that harming the child you are carrying, through your illegal use of drugs, is a crime.

 

[TigerD]

There will be significant challenges to that bill if it were to pass. That bill strikes me as more an attempt to pressure the abortion issue than to conviction drug-using moms to be.

Regardless - the OP is not going to be able to successful sue her county for a felony conviction she received 14 years ago.

TD

 

[LdiJ]

There will be significant challenges to that bill if it were to pass. That bill strikes me as more an attempt to pressure the abortion issue than to conviction drug-using moms to be.

Regardless - the OP is not going to be able to successful sue her county for a felony conviction she received 14 years ago.

TD

I agree that the bill is overly broad. I will be surprised if it passes.

 

[RRevak]

.
If any woman is thinking of getting pregnant or has just learned she is pregnant, and if she has a drug abuse problem, she should seek drug counseling and treatment immediately. It does not take the passage of a law to know that harming the child you are carrying, through your illegal use of drugs, is a crime.

1. If only it were that easy. Most mothers who are addicted don't care about their unborn children. Like, at all. If they did then there wouldn't be so many newborns born addicted themselves. And most addicted mothers aren't "choosing" to become pregnant.

2.Laws and heavy handed reports to CPS, while they sound all nice and helpful, often times serve to do the exact opposite in helping to lower the number of addicted infants born in that they tend to heavily deter addicted women from getting help out of fear. If a mother feels too afraid to share her addiction with a healthcare provider because she fears losing her child to the system then she won't share, period. I know this from experience (family member who works with addicted mothers). Hopefully this law dies quickly.

 

[justalayman]

1. If only it were that easy. Most mothers who are addicted don't care about their unborn children. Like, at all. If they did then there wouldn't be so many newborns born addicted themselves. And most addicted mothers aren't "choosing" to become pregnant.

2.Laws and heavy handed reports to CPS, while they sound all nice and helpful, often times serve to do the exact opposite in helping to lower the number of addicted infants born in that they tend to heavily deter addicted women from getting help out of fear. If a mother feels too afraid to share her addiction with a healthcare provider because she fears losing her child to the system then she won't share, period. I know this from experience (family member who works with addicted mothers). Hopefully this law dies quickly.

Unless they are raped, they are choosing to engage in an activity that has known results: pregnancy. So if they chose to have unprotected sex they are choosing to become pregnant, at least in the larger sense.

Wholly agree with the statement they typically don't care about their babies. While quincy's statement was unrealistic in practice, it is still a valid statement. Some widely renowned man once said: I have a dream. We should all have dreams. It gives us a target from which we determine our path.

Agree with the second statement. One has to realize there are generally 2 means to alter behavior: a reward system and a punitive system. A reward system is not feasible in the issue at hand so that leaves our government with a punitive system to attempt to alter the status quo. The truth is it won't work. Putting it simply: criminals don't care they are committing a crime full well knowing there is a risk of penalty or they wouldn't commit the crime. Our growing prison population has proven that.

 

[quincy]

1. If only it were that easy. Most mothers who are addicted don't care about their unborn children. Like, at all. If they did then there wouldn't be so many newborns born addicted themselves. And most addicted mothers aren't "choosing" to become pregnant.

2.Laws and heavy handed reports to CPS, while they sound all nice and helpful, often times serve to do the exact opposite in helping to lower the number of addicted infants born in that they tend to heavily deter addicted women from getting help out of fear. If a mother feels too afraid to share her addiction with a healthcare provider because she fears losing her child to the system then she won't share, period. I know this from experience (family member who works with addicted mothers). Hopefully this law dies quickly.

The only way I can see that any law that criminalizes drug use during pregnancy could be beneficial is if the misdemeanor offense can be discharged and dismissed through satisfactory completion of a diversion program.

A diversion program could include a comprehensive drug treatment program along with prenatal classes and, if the terms of the program are completed successfully, the misdemeanor will be discharged and dismissed, leaving the mom-to-be with no criminal record. This could potentially allow for a mom-to-be to have a healthier pregnancy and a healthier baby.

With that said, though, there are laws already in place that allow for the arrest of illegal drug users. These laws are not gender-specific. They do not target one group of people. I see no need for a law that makes illegal drug use during pregnancy a crime when illegal drug use is already a crime, whether the drug user is pregnant or not.

So, I see as being better than an additional law is an addition to diversion program conditions that can include court-ordered prenatal care for mom's-to-be arrested on illegal drug use charges. There is already a condition under most states' diversion programs for the completion of drug/alcohol classes and treatment.

But, as justalayman said, I "have a dream" and that is to give all babies the best chance they can possibly have for a healthy start in life. I do not see any law that can accomplish this - but I have not researched Tennessee's law to see if it has curtailed drug use in pregnant women. I tend to think it hasn't.

 

[HighwayMan]

In Missouri, they are getting ready to pass a law that says; a person doing ANY drug while pregnant is a crime. 14 years ago I was charges with smoking marijuana while pregnant, and I lost years of my life, that I can't get back; due to my felony is always on my record.. Can't I sue my county for this?

So you're a convicted felon and you want to sue your county for that? What would be the basis of your lawsuit??

You committed a crime and are suffering the consequences. It's no one's fault but your own.

 

[Proserpina]

In Missouri, they are getting ready to pass a law that says; a person doing ANY drug while pregnant is a crime. 14 years ago I was charges with smoking marijuana while pregnant, and I lost years of my life, that I can't get back; due to my felony is always on my record.. Can't I sue my county for this?

What was the nature of your conviction, Katie?

 

[quincy]

If Missouri takes a look at how Tennessee's law has worked out for Tennessee, Missouri will not pass a similar law.

The law in Tennessee provides for jail time for drug-abusing mom's-to-be but does not provide for drug treatment for those convicted of illegal drug use. After a brief review and as RRevak previously noted might be the case, the law in Tennessee has driven many pregnant drug-users "underground" and away from doctors who can provide prenatal care, this out of fear of arrest and having their babies and their other children taken away from them by the State. Some of these pregnant women are heading out of state to give birth rather than risk punishment in Tennessee.

And, the number of babies born to drug-addicted mothers in Tennessee has actually increased rather than decreased since the law went into effect in 2014.

This year, there will be a mandatory review of Tennessee's law and its effectiveness, and many see that with this review will come a repeal of the law.

The Center for Disease Control (CDC) and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), among many others, recommend treatment for drug addiction rather than jail time.