Legal Advocacy
NAPW engages in legal advocacy that challenges efforts to criminalize pregnancy and motherhood, establish fetal rights under the law, and expand the war on drugs to women's wombs. NAPW provides litigation support in both civil and criminal cases across the country, particularly for public defenders and other local lawyers faced with cases that raise legal and medical issues with which they may be unfamiliar. This litigation support encompasses finding experts to testify, locating counsel, providing model briefs and research, and organizing opposition to punitive approaches through amicus (friend of the court) briefs and open letters from leading medical, public health, and child welfare organizations.
NAPW acts as national legal clearinghouse and back-up center for lawyers, defendants, activists, and researchers across the country. NAPW has a unique collection of model briefs and other materials offering legal, scientific, policy and advocacy information on the interconnected issues of reproductive rights, drug policy, birthing rights, public health, child welfare, race, and social justice.
Through its litigation and litigation support, NAPW has successfully challenged efforts to expand the war on drugs, has kept mothers out of jail and children with their families. NAPW uses each case as an opportunity to empower local activists and the women who are directly affected; to mobilize a growing number of medical, public health and social justice organizations; and to move academics, health care providers and educators to become effective political activists. Whether joining an amicus brief, writing a public letter opposing a prosecution, or preparing an analysis of a new policy, NAPW recognizes that these cases are not only about the woman charged - they are a part of a larger political effort to distract attention from the government's failure to support pregnant women, families and communities. No matter what our involvement, NAPW does not litigate and leave. We litigate and build.
Victory in Maine re-sentencing
A U.S. District Court Judge in Maine held a sentencing hearing for an HIV positive, pregnant woman from Cameroon and released her on time served. You may recall that earlier this summer Judge Woodcock sentenced her to 238 days, stating this sentence was calculated specifically to ensure that she remained incarcerated for the duration of her pregnancy, rather than time served as recommend by Federal Sentencing Guidelines, the U.S. Attorney and the defense attorney.
Amicus Briefs filed in Kentucky Supreme Court
Today, February 24th, NAPW filed a public health amicus brief on behalf of ACOG, the APA, and other groups before the Kentucky Supreme Court in Cochran v. Commonwealth in a case where a woman was prosecuted for continuing her pregnancy to term in spite of a drug problem.