From Alabama, Another Creative Twist on the Prosecution of Pregnant Women

by Jill Morrison, Senior Counsel
National Women’s Law Center

Alabama passed a “chemical endangerment” law that was intended to address the problem of children being exposed to the chemicals that result from the production of methamphetamine. Instead, an Alabama district attorney is charging women with chemical endangerment based on their use of meth during pregnancy. 

Time and time again, courts have found that you can’t prosecute women using laws that were intended for other purposes. And we’ve explained why the problem of addiction among pregnant women is best addressed through treatment and not the criminal justice system.

Nonetheless, this DA, Greg L. Gambril, said, “the purpose of the statute was to guarantee that the child has a safe environment, a drug-free environment. No one is to say whether that environment is inside or outside the womb.” 

Huh?! Would there be any limit on criminalizing a pregnant woman’s actions (food, drink, exercise, sleeping habits, failure to floss) under his interpretation of the law?  Hopefully, the New York Times coverage of this issue will call attention to the Constitutional violations being committed by this DA, and attorneys will stop urging their clients to plead guilty to these non-existent crimes.