The Construction of Pregnant Drug-using Women as Criminal Perpetrators

Despite clear lack of intent to harm those whom they carry, drug-using pregnant women have been constructed de facto criminal perpetrators. However, drug use falls short of being prima facie evidence of intent to harm, particularly in social circumstances where drug-using economics are endemic. The cases in this article signal the limits of tolerance and the increasingly conditional nature of public welfare provision by raising the specter of a generation of urban mothers and grandmothers unable to care for their kids. These cases also reflect the policy-making role into which hospitals and the courts have stepped in the face of a legislative void.