Imagine a world where women have a legal obligation to deliver healthy, perfect children--a world where any abnormality, miscarriage or still birth could be cause for a legal investigation into wrongdoing that may result in charges against the mother. With the rapidly evolving feticide laws in the USA, this scary future is a definite possibility.
Originally developed to protect pregnant women and their unborn children in tragic circumstances such as the Laci Peterson murder, fetal homicide laws have evolved in recent years. The majority of laws explicitly exempt abortion, perhaps accounting for the presence of fetal homicide laws in 38 states.
In an article published by the reproductive and sexual health and justice site, RH Reality Check, author Imani Gandy explains:
Disturbingly, these laws are being used against pregnant women, as opposed to another person injuring a pregnant woman and her fetus.
Huffington Post gives the example of then 16 year old Rennie Gibbs, who delivered a stillborn child, born with the umbilical cord wrapped around it's neck, in 2006. The medical examiner found "traces of a cocaine byproduct" during the infant's autopsy, and ruled the death a homicide, citing Gibbs's cocaine use at some point during her factor as the cause. Gibbs was indicted, and her case ultimately dropped.
According to Lynn Paltrow, the Executive Director of National Advocates for Pregnant Women, even evidence of a single use of a controlled substance during pregnancy can lead to charges.
Wisconsin, along with Minnesota, Oklahoma and South Dakota, all give the government the power to imprison pregnant women for substance abuse. Wisconsin woman Alicia Beltran was forced into a drug treatment facility by a judge when she refused to take anti-addiction medication.
She had revealed a previous pill addiction at a prenatal appointment, and was ordered by her physician to begin anti-addiction medications. A urine test confirmed that, at the time, Beltran was not using drugs. When Beltran refused, she was accused of endangering the welfare of her unborn child. Taken in shackles before a family court, Beltran's fetus, at 14 weeks, had been appointed it's own attorney. Beltran ultimately forced to attend a 78-day inpatient stay at a drug treatment facility, as a result of Wisconsin's 1998 "Cocaine Mom" Act.
The New York Times writes:
What are some of the possible implications of giving fetuses greater legal rights than pregnant mothers? Addicted mothers are not likely to seek medical attention during their pregnancies if doing so would mean incarceration, which has the potential to risk the life of both mother and fetus.
What is stopping someone for being prosecuted for "chemical endangerment of a child," for something such as using nail polish containing formaldehyde, or eating meat that contains antibiotics, or even of eating produce that is not "organic."
For more information, check out:
http://rhrealitycheck.org/article/2014/01/09/feticide-laws-advance-personhood-punish-pregnant-women/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/04/arrests-of-pregnant-women_n_5083480.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/24/us/case-explores-rights-of-fetus-versus-mother.html?_r=1&
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