Wisconsinites Fight Back Against The Criminalization Of Pregnant Women

[riversedge]

Wisconsinites Fight Back Against The Criminalization Of Pregnant Women http://thkpr.gs/3604494 She needed mental health care NOT prison #p2


Wisconsinites Fight Back Against The Criminalization Of Pregnant Women

by Tara Culp-Ressler Posted on December 17, 2014 at 9:15 am Updated: December 18, 2014 at 8:57 am




Tamara Loertscher was uninsured, suffering from the health effects of an untreated thyroid condition, and using methamphetamine to self-medicate. She also started to suspect she was pregnant. So she went to a hospital in her home state of Wisconsin, hoping to take a pregnancy test and get some help managing the mental health issues stemming from her hypothyroidism.

Then she was sent to jail for 17 days.

That’s because, under a 1998 state law widely referred to as the “cocaine mom law,” Wisconsin is allowed to arrest and detain women if they are pregnant and admit to using drugs or alcohol. It’s a particularly sweeping example of a fetal harm measure — legislation in place across the country that cracks down on women for allegedly endangering their pregnancies.

This week, several reproductive rights and legal groups filed a civil rights lawsuit on behalf of Loertscher challenging the controversial “cocaine mom law.” The National Advocates for Pregnant Women, the Carr Center for Reproductive Justice, and the Perkins Coie law firm say that the measure infringes on pregnant women’s fundamental rights to liberty and privacy.

“Ms. Loertscher’s experience reflects how profoundly this Wisconsin law disrespects pregnant women,” Sara Ainsworth, the director of legal advocacy at National Advocates for Pregnant Women — a group that’s been fighting against these type of fetal endangerment charges for years — said in a statement.
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[AllyCat]

1. Not to mention how dangerious it is for both the mother and fetus!

If health care professionals don't know what a woman is taking, prescription or otherwise, it can be real hard to treat the mother and the baby after delivery. If she feels safe giving full disclosure of substances used during pregnancy, we can get her into treatment, improving odds for both mother and baby.

The anti-woman measures like this around the country are also anti-child. But remember the GOP motto: Save the fetus, the hell with the child.