In: Nursing
Should a Pregnant Woman Be Punished for Exposing Her Fetus to Risk?
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The pregnant woman who uses alcohol, smoking, and drugs will be harmful to the fetus or newborn. This is kind of intentionally risking the fetus/newborn life. A pregnant woman who uses drugs like cocaine, crack, heroin, and methadone may have a baby born addicted to the substances she took during her pregnancy. Cocaine is one of the most harmful drugs to unborn babies
Therefore, these kinds of actions should be punished. Some states in the US already made a law against these women, if their newborn babies tested positive for these illegal drugs, the mother will be punished. A state appeals court ruled in 2006 that women cannot be criminally charged for using drugs during pregnancy. The Supreme Judicial Court ruled in 1993 that drug tests taken at birth can be used as evidence in a criminal prosecution.
To protect the health and life of the newborn, it is essential that some kind of legal punishment required to reduce the incidence into zero.