Should All Pregnant Women Be Drug Tested? Essay

The use of heroin, cocaine, and other illicit drugs has become a public health concern especially during pregnancy. Maternal substance abuse has become an issue during the crack epidemic in the 1980’s; however, there is an alarm rate of infants born addicted to heroin. More than 3.7% women have indicated the uses some form of illicit drugs during their pregnancy, as well as 1.9 % reports binge drinking (Bhuvaneswar el at., 2008; Grant el at., 2009). With this in mind, more than 375,000 infants are born to maternal substance abusers each year costing over $100,000 in medical expenses covered by the state (Reitman, 2002).

Drug and alcohol addictions are illnesses that require some type of effective treatment to overcome them. I believe that women don’t intentionally expose their fetuses to drug or alcohol abuse, but if it happens, I believe the problem needs to be identified and addressed immediately because obviously there is a problem. In my opinion, I believe that women should be punished for exposing their fetuses to drug and alcohol abuse. The fetuses are innocent and shouldn’t have to suffer on the ignorance of their mother. I think that treatment should be offered and monitored frequently. If the program is not followed by the pregnant woman, then she should not be allowed the opportunity to raise the child until she has proven that she will provide a

Substance abuse during pregnancy can have a negative force on the health and wellness of not only the fetus, but that of the mother. The harmful effects of medications, alcohol and illegal drugs on an unborn child can be devastating and can have significant consequences to its use. Sometimes the effects can be faced and treated, and other times the outcome is a lifelong challenge. During the prenatal period, it is important that new mothers are informed of the different types of abuse, how they may affect the fetus, and the adverse conditions their child may be faced with before and after birth.

In 2014, after seeing a significant increase in babies born with neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS), Tennessee began criminally charging pregnant women who use drugs (Sakuma, 2014). Supporters of the new legislation refer to it as a “velvet hammer” used to convince the pregnant drug users into going into treatment, or doing jail time. However, critics are concerned that this legislation will be just another barrier for a group of women who are already at risk, (Sakuma, 2014).

Through the years, substance misuse in the United States has turned into an industrious issue influencing numerous people. In 2008, it was assessed that 17.8 million Americans beyond 18 years old where substance subordinate. Women who use medications during pregnancy can have an enduring impact on fetal. Medications can have an impact of maternal and child wellbeing, yet there are a lot of different variables, which influence it, poor social environment, nourishment, cleanliness, and sexual abuse. Regenerative interruption connected with heroin utilization has been shown in both and women and even low dosages of opiates can impede ordinary ovarian capacity and ovulation. The harm that goes hand in hand with substance utilization comes either straightforwardly from the impact of the medication itself or from issues identified with development and/or unexpected labor. The entanglements of jumbling components clamorous way of life, poor nourishment, liquor utilization and cigarette smoking influence the appraisal of the impacts of cocaine in pregnancy. In obstetric practice, 100% of pregnant women utilizing cocaine or heroin are cigarette smokers. Cigarette smoking is presumably the most well known manifestation of substance utilizes and is noteworthy corresponding considering ladies who use unlawful medications. Babies whose moms smoked in pregnancy have a tendency to have lower conception weights and diminished length, cranial and thoracic

Drug-addicted women are the stakeholders in this dilemma. Drug-addicted or former drug-addicted women are being pressured into thinking that controlling their fertility is the only way in which to not be considered a horrible person or bad mothers. No one should be allowed to try to persuade women to give up their reproductive rights. Just because some women choose to use drugs or alcohol does not mean that they are not responsible enough to make proper health or parenting decisions on their own, they especially do not need monetary incentives to make sound decisions. “Evidence suggests that women who use drugs do not need to be paid to limit or end their fertility” (Olsen, 2014). Preferably, programs should try to minimize the barriers that these women have to face in order to obtain information. Organizations should be non-discriminating and non judgmental towards women’s reproductive health.

In the 80s Boston, as well as other cities, experienced a drug epidemic. The drug was called crack and it affect the city of Boston badly. A nurse named Fulani Haynes at Boston Medical Center was working during the crack epidemic. She explains how to care for babies who were born addicted to drugs that passed from a mother’s bloodstream through the placenta and into a tiny body. “The babies couldn’t tolerate being held or rocked, she recalled. They wailed at the sound of soft lullabies. Only complete darkness, silence, tight swaddling, and medication could soothe them.” This drug has nothing to do with heroin but it shows the people of Boston that if the heroin addiction continues to spread, more and more children will be born addicts and

Since the 1980’s, debate about how society should deal with the problem of criminalizing pregnant women who abuse drugs or alcohol has become a nationwide issue. Many states argue that the primary concern is making sure women have healthy pregnancies and healthy children. However, policies that threaten women with criminal prosecution and the potential loss of parental rights drive women away from pregnancy-related care. Constitutionally, enacting states to create these laws is unsound and places women in situations of risk. Less than a week ago a bill was sent to the governor of Tennessee after being approved by both the house and the senate, that would allow for women to be prosecuted if she takes an illegal drugs while pregnant. Although this bill is made to seem like it is promoting healthy pregnancies, many groups are urging the governor to veto it.

In the United States, we have a culture that accepts the use of some substances over others, regardless of the negative affects of the “acceptable” drugs. For instance, it is socially acceptable to drink alcohol, eat sugar, and, while no longer as in vogue, smoke cigarettes. From a public health standpoint, these substances are also dangerous and can have debilitating affects on both children and adults. What is more, while narcotics use during pregnancy can lead to NAS at birth, there has been no conclusive evidence of lasting negative effects across the lifespan (Goldensohn & Levy, 2014; Miller, 2015). However, the use of other substances, such as alcohol, can be devastating and carry much more risk, leading some reporters to believe that the law has more to do with the people using these substances than the substances themselves (Todd, 2014). In any case, the punishment of mothers who suffer from addiction when they should be receiving support and treatment is a large moral failing on the part of policymakers. Arguments around whether the woman should be held responsible for her addiction overlook possible systemic barriers that led to her substance use as well as the fact that drug addiction is a treatable illness (Todd, 2014). In creating and invoking this law, policymakers are essentially turning their backs on some of the most vulnerable people in our society, expectant mothers, and using their resulting arrests as evidence of corrupt principles, deserving of punishment and

“Every 25 minutes, 1 baby is born suffering from opiate withdrawal. Newborns with neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS) are more likely than other babies to also have low birth weight and respiratory complications” (Dramatic Increases in Maternal Opioid Use and Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome, 2015, Paragraph 2). To insure a better life for these babies, people are trying to create an Act called the Plan of Safe Care Improvement or otherwise known as the Infant Plan of Safe Care Improvement. This Act is meant to protect future babies from not only being born drug dependent because of their mothers, but also ensuring them a drug-free environment after birth. It will also “get help for the mothers and any other guardians involved in drug addiction”

Tennessee passed a new law that any pregnant women who has been found using narcotics during pregnancy or if the baby is born being addicted to the drug will be arrested. Tennessee is the first state to allow this type of criminal law to go into place. Tennessee law allowed police to arrest women who used drugs when they were pregnant, but this approach never worked (Perez, 2014). Tennesee has a staggering infant mortality rate which ranks among 3rd in the nation (Sakuma, 2013). In 2013, Tennesee lawmakers actually sought to encourage mothers to get treatment under the Safe Harbor Act. The act let mothers get the help they need for the addiction, but they were promised they would not lose custody of their baby so long as they were seeking treatment (Sakuma, 2014). The new law permits moms to avoid prosecution if they can successfully complete their drug rehabilitation program (Sakuma,

In today’s society people are talking about babies being born to drugs, and how could a mother do that to their unborn child. Drug addiction is a very serious issue that needs more research. We are still learning the effects of substance abuse. One problem that needs to be looked at is are there enough Rehabilitation Centers, to help the women who are addicted to these different street drugs. Also doctor and nurses should not judge these women but instead give them the best prenatal care that can be provided. We need to see what harm and side affects it has on the mother and baby, so that we can be able to understand better how to treat these women and get them off drugs before they do harm their babies.

The American Medical Association and other leading medical groups have concluded that drugs and alcohol addictions are diseases that should be treated not punished. Federal and states experts have concluded that there is no evidence that the threat of jail succeeds in reducing drug use and improve birth outcomes. Instead, there is evidence that it frightens women away from prenatal care and drug treatment that can be helpful for these women and their future babies.

The rationality of those who support the punishment of addicted mothers focus on the idea that maternal conduct could lead to potential detrimental effects upon the fetus and that prosecution of such behavior would serve as both retribution for the fetus and as a deterrent. Whereas those who advocate for the pregnant women view this rational as not only impermissible but also unconstitutional as in current legal standing the fetus has no rights that usurp those of the pregnant woman (Stone-Manista, 2009, pp.823-856). Advocates also suggests that the breadth of forces that lead to drug use in pregnant women have a prevalent cultural and social foundation that the proponents for deterrence and retribution ignore in favor of strict scrutiny. This conflict between women’s rights and fetal rights has caused a paradigm in the prosecution of pregnant drug users as the interpretation of criminal sanctions argues over the definition of ‘child’ as encompassing fetuses in the definition would then lay the foundation for punishment for a woman’s conduct during pregnancy (Stone-Magnets, 2009, pp.823-856). Though currently it is unconstitutional and legally impermissible to prosecute women with state child abuse statutes in regards to drug use during pregnancy; advocates of fetal rights continue to follow

Many women, including teens, abuse drugs while they are pregnant. This rate is especially high to those who are homeless, underprivileged, or live in a broken home. In order for drug abusers to even have a chance at beating their addiction they have to have support whether it’s family, friends, or boyfriend/spouse. They must also let the abuser now all the consequences to themselves and the unborn child. There are many consequences when using drugs during pregnancy such as miscarriage, health risks to baby, and health risks to the mother. And learning disabilities and brain damage to the fetus.