Abstract

Pregnant and Dangerous

The author argues that poor and drug-addicted pregnant women should be supported, not charged with crimes, if they fail to produce healthy babies. The good news is that Utah has dropped murder charges against Melissa Rowland, who rejected her doctors' advice to undergo an immediate Caesarean section and gave birth to a stillborn boy and a girl who tested positive for cocaine. The bad news is that she has accepted a plea to two counts of child endangerment for using drugs during pregnancy and faces a possible five-year sentence. [T]his is what we've come to in America: failure to produce a live, healthy, non-drug-exposed baby can land you in prison. Stillbirth is a tragedy. Drug use during pregnancy is a terrible idea. But should they be crimes as well? Rowland lacked everything a pregnant woman should have: support, security, understanding, respect. Pregnant drug users don't get much sympathy from the public, but the specter of women forced under the knife against their will, compelled by law to risk their lives and health despite their own judgment, is one many women can relate to. As Lynn Paltrow of the National Advocates for Pregnant Women (NAPW) points out, doctors are often wrong about the need for C-sections. The point at issue in the murder charge remained whether pregnant women are people or vessels: Can they decide what is done to their bodies, what risks to take, or not?