NAPW and Southern Poverty Law Center File Amicus Brief Against Prosecutions of Pregnant Women in Covington County, Alabama
Prosecution of Woman Struggling with Addiction During Pregnancy Draws Local and National Criticism.
Over 25 Leading Medical and Public Health Organizations, Experts, and Related Advocates Say Prosecution Will Undermine Fetal and Maternal Health
Today over 25 medical, public health and health advocacy groups, as well as leading medical health care providers and experts, filed an amicus (friend of the court) brief with the Circuit Court of Covington County that opposes the prosecution of Shekelia Ward. Ms. Ward has been charged with chemical endangerment of a child for continuing her pregnancy to term and giving birth. In this case the prosecutor argues that a pregnant woman who cannot overcome an addiction problem before she gives birth should be sent to jail for “chemically endangering a child” under a statute which was enacted to protect children from methamphetamine laboratories, not to punish pregnant women.
The brief’s signatories, including the American Public Health Association and the Alabama Women’s Resource Network, state that while they “do not endorse the non-medical use of drugs – including alcohol or tobacco – during pregnancy, by either parent” they join this brief because Ms. Ward’s prosecution is not supported by science or law.
As every leading medical organization to address this issue has concluded, including the American Medical Association, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the March of Dimes, the 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.
Dr. Reshef, OB/GYN and a Clinical Associate Professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center who is one of the experts signing on to the brief noted, “If Ms. Ward is successfully prosecuted for continuing her pregnancy to term in spite of a drug problem, then every pregnant women who is exposed at any time to any chemical substance that is known or believed to pose a risk to fetal health could face the possibility of criminal prosecution.”
Alexia Ward, the Campaign Director of the Alabama Women’s Resource Network, who submitted an affidavit in support of the amicus brief further noted that “instead of imprisoning pregnant women and new mothers, we should provide community based treatment, education, mental health and rehabilitation programs which cost less than imprisonment, and are more effective in responding to women experiencing a drug dependency, with reduced rates of recidivism and increased rehabilitation.”
Organizations and Experts joining the brief:
American Public Health Association
Alabama Women’s Resource Network
Alabama Voices of Recovery
Aletheia House
FORMLL
The Southern Poverty Law Center
American Academy of Addiction Psychiatry
American College of Nurse Midwives
Association of Reproductive Health Professionals
Association for Medical Education and Research in Substance Abuse
Baron Edmond de Rothschild Chemical Dependency Institute
Asian Communities for Reproductive Justice
Center for Gender and Justice
Child Welfare Organizing Project
Citizens for Midwifery
Global Lawyers and Physicians
Law Enforcement Against Prohibition
National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum
National Association of Nurse Practitioners in Women’s Health
National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence
National Women’s Health Network
Our Bodies Ourselves
Physicians and Lawyers for National Drug Policy
Physicians for Reproductive Choice and Health
Deborah Frank, M.D.
Leslie Hartley Gise, M.D.
Susan C. Boyd, Ph.D.
Eli Reshef, M.D.
Linda Worley, M.D.
The complete amicus can be found on our website. http://advocatesforpregnantwomen.org/main/publications/brief_bank/alabama_v_shekelia_ward_amicus_brief.php