Pubdate: Sat, 10 Feb 2007
Source: Casper Star-Tribune (WY)
Copyright: 2007 Casper Star-Tribune
Contact:  http://www.casperstartribune.net/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/765
Author: Ben Neary, Associated Press writer
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/women.htm (Women)

METH-PREGNANCY BILL DRAWS NATIONAL CRITICISM

CHEYENNE -- A bill in the Wyoming House of Representatives to allow 
criminal prosecution of mothers who exposed their newborn children to 
methamphetamine in the womb is drawing criticism from a public health 
professionals nationwide who say it would discourage women from 
seeking medical care.

The sponsor of the bill, Rep. Elaine Harvey, R-Lovell, says she 
agrees that meth addicts need treatment. But she says addicts often 
won't seek treatment on their own, and says that's why the state 
needs to step in.

Harvey's bill, titled "Methamphetamine -- endangering children before 
birth" is scheduled for final reading in the House today.

In an interview Wednesday, Harvey emphasized that her bill would 
allow drug courts to require mothers who test positive for meth use 
when they give birth to get intensive outpatient treatment, attend 
parenting classes and stay employed.

"All of those can be conditions of the court, and it means that 
people stay in their own community, and they learn how to heal," 
Harvey said. "And they learn how to put their own family back 
together in their own community and their own setting."

A fiscal analysis of Harvey's bill by the state's nonpartisan 
Legislative Service Office states that there's no way to predict the 
number of women who would be sentenced to probation or incarceration 
if the bill becomes law.

Lynn Paltrow, executive director of National Advocates for Pregnant 
Women based in New York City, said Wednesday that the letter opposing 
Harvey's bill came together after Paltrow mentioned the legislation 
at a health conference in Atlanta last month. The letter, addressed 
to the Wyoming Legislature and Gov. Dave Freudenthal, is signed by 
the American Public Health Association and more than 80 other health 
organizations and professionals nationwide.

"(T)he problem of alcohol and drug use during pregnancy is a health 
issue best addressed through education and community-based treatment, 
not through the criminal justice system," the letter states.

Sheigla Murphy, director of the Center for Substance Abuse Studies at 
the Institute for Scientific Analysis in San Francisco, is among 
those who signed the letter. In a telephone interview Wednesday, 
Murphy said she's been researching and writing about pregnant drug 
users for about 30 years.

"I think they've got it a little bit backward," Murphy said of the 
Wyoming bill. "When women who are abusing drugs become pregnant, this 
is an opportunity to get them into health care, get them into 
treatment and get them out of environments where drugs are being 
used. By threatening them with jail, you just push them further underground."

Sharon Breitweiser, executive director of NARAL Pro-Choice Wyoming, 
said Wednesday her group shares the concern that the bill would deter 
women from seeking prenatal care. In addition, Breitweiser said her 
group is concerned that the bill seeks to advance the legal rights of 
unborn children.

"It's an agenda to recognize the unborn and advance the legal 
standing of a fetus in the law," Breitweiser said. "Many of the same 
people who are sponsoring these bills are adamantly opposed to 
abortion, and they believe that life begins at conception. And they 
believe there's a state interest in protecting life from the moment 
of conception."

Harvey says Breitweiser is wrong in her suggestion that the bill is 
aimed at undermining abortion rights.

"Absolutely not," Harvey said. "This bill was so carefully worded 
that it doesn't deal with a child before it's born."

Harvey said that if a pregnant woman wants to seek drug treatment 
during pregnancy, she could not be charged under the bill.

"'Go get treatment' -- that's the message I'd like to send," Harvey 
said. "Clean up your act, and you'll never be charged."
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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman