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20 Cardozo J.L. & Gender 89 (2013-2014)
Criminalization in Shades of Color: Prosecuting Pregnant Drug-Addicted Women

handle is hein.journals/cardw20 and id is 107 raw text is: CRIMINALIZATION IN SHADES OF COLOR: PROSECUTING PREGNANT DRUG-ADDICTED WOMEN CARLA-MICHELLE ADAMS, ESQ.* INTRODUCTION The development of the fetal protection movement and the legal acknowledgement of fetal rights has resulted in states beginning to hold expecting mothers legally accountable for their drug abuse during pregnancy through the imposition of criminal sanctions. It is estimated that each year 375,000 drug dependent infants will be born from drug-addicted women.' Furthermore, each year, an estimated 400,000-440,000 infants (ten to eleven percent of all births) are affected by prenatal alcohol or illicit drug exposure.2 The state has a compelling interest in the protection of the fetus as established by the Supreme Court in Roe v. Wade,3 which is implicated in the birth of drug-addicted infants. Numerous states have implemented statutes that confront the crimes of child endangerment by chemical dependence. Neglect, abuse, and homicide statutes have been amended to include newborn infants who are chemically dependent on specific controlled substances.4 The inclusion of newborn chemical dependency as a harm within the statutory language has resulted in the imposition of criminal sanctions on countless women as a punishment for their drug addiction. Essentially, women who are burdened with the illness of drug addiction, at the same time that they are with * Carla-Michelle Adams, Esq. was admitted to practice in the State of Florida in 2011. Ms. Adams is an Associate Attorney at Newman Law Firm P.A. She received her Bachelor of Arts from the College of New Rochelle, Juris Doctorate from Florida Coastal School of Law. She is currently completing her L.L.M. at Western New England University School of Law. I Deanna Rae Reitman, The Collision Between the Rights of Women, the Rights of the Fetus and the Rights of the State: A Critical Analysis of the Criminal Prosecution of Drug Addicted Pregnant Women, 16 ST. JOHN'S J. C.R. & ECON. DEv., 267 (2002). 2 Substance Exposed Infants, NATIONAL CENTER ON SUBSTANCE ABUSE AND CHILD WELFARE, http://www.ncsacw.samhsa.gov/resources/substance-exposed-infants.aspx (last visited Sept. 8, 2013). 3 Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113 (1973). 4 Johnson v. State, 602 So. 2d 1288, 1293 (1992); see also ARK. CODE ANN. § 12-18-103(12)(B) (West 2009); FLA. STAT. ANN. § 39.01 (West 2013); IOWA CODE ANN. § 232.68 (West 2012); KY. REV. STAT. ANN. § 214.160 (West 2012); LA. CHILD. CODE ANN. art. 610 (West 2012); MONT. CODE ANN. § 45-5-622 (West 2007); NEv. REv. STAT. ANN. § 432B.220 (West 2007); S.C. CODE ANN. § 63-7-1660 (2010); S.D. CODIFIED LAWS § 26-8A-2 (2008); TEX. FAM. CODE ANN. § 261.001 (West 2011); W.VA. CODE § 49-1-3 (West 2013); WIs. STAT. ANN. § 48.02 (West 1995). 89

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