New York Times Examines Prosecutions Of Drug Use Among Pregnant Women In Alabama

Main Category: Pregnancy / Obstetrics
Also Included In: Alcohol / Addiction / Illegal Drugs;  Medical Malpractice / Litigation;  Women's Health / Gynecology
Article Date: 19 Mar 2008 - 8:00 PDT

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The New York Times on Saturday examined the "unusual burst" of prosecutions of women who used drugs during their pregnancies in Covington County, Alabama. According to the Times, at least eight women have been prosecuted for using drugs while pregnant during the last 18 months in the county, which has a population of about 37,000. According to the Times, the "tally" is "without any recent parallel that women's advocates have been able to find." Once they are arrested, the women usually are sent to county jails, state prisons or drug rehabilitation centers.

Although similar cases have come up in Maryland and New Mexico with "limited success," Alabama is "pursuing these cases with special vigor," the Times reports. According to the Times, the "prosecutorial crusade" is the result of a "cultural clash" between "casual drug use and a local district attorney unsettled that children or fetuses might be affected by it." Unlike women in other jurisdictions, women in Covington County are not appealing their convictions, and attorneys and physicians "talk about these cases reluctantly, if at all," the Times reports. Covington County District Attorney Greg Gambril acknowledges the number of cases puts him at the "forefront," at least among Alabama prosecutors. Gambril said his duty is to protect both fetuses and infants through a state law that, according to the Times, does not mention fetuses and was primarily intended to protect young children from exposure to methamphetamine laboratories.

"In my jurisdiction, a baby being born dead because of drug abuse is a huge deal," Gambril said, adding, "When drugs are introduced in the womb, the child-to-be is endangered. It is what I call a continuing crime." The purpose of the law is to guarantee that the child has "a safe environment, a drug-free environment," he said, adding that no "one is to say whether that environment is inside or outside the womb" and that no judge or other state authority has disagreed. However, some defense attorneys disagree, the Times reports. Rod Sylvester, an attorney representing a woman charged with chemical endangerment, said, "None of those cases should have been brought," adding, "It's an overreaching" (Nossiter, New York Times, 3/15).

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