South Carolina Reverts to its Earlier, Medieval Approach to Drugs and Pregnancy

From AP [and that handy Google cache] via Art Caplan:

AIKEN - A 24-year-old Bath woman pleaded guilty in Aiken County Court recently to using cocaine while pregnant. That is not unusual, but her sentence was: She has to go on birth control. Julie Ann Horton became the first woman in Aiken County ordered to take birth control as part of a plea deal, a stipulation she agreed to so she could avoid jail time. She might not be the last.

Solicitor Barbara Morgan said her office is planning to offer plea deals to drug-addicted women that include birth control requirements, a decision that is being criticized as infringing on a woman's reproductive rights.

"That's like playing God when all you are is a judge," said Charleston attorney Susan Dunn, who has represented women charged with using drugs while pregnant.

However, Ms. Morgan said the new effort is about getting help for a woman's drug problem that has already resulted in her giving birth to a baby who tested positive for those illegal narcotics. It's not about sterilization, she said; the birth control is temporary and as of now, a voluntary part of plea deals.

An expectant mother who is using drugs cannot make the appropriate decisions for the health of her unborn child, she argued.

"Given a choice between drugs and a baby, the drugs always trump," Ms. Morgan said.

In South Carolina, women who deliver drug-positive babies are charged with unlawful conduct by a legal custodian, a felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison.

Ms. Morgan said her office has prosecuted women who have had multiple babies test positive for drugs when they're born, and she predicts many women would agree to go on birth control if offered it as part of a plea deal.

Newsday: Pregnancy as we Age

Smart, thoughtful bioethics scholar Susan Wolf contributes her own personal bit to this quick Newsday review of the year's stories about those women who are choosing to have children very late in life, and what their experience means for others:

"For a woman in her 50s or older, 'It can be hard to get down and up off the floor a million times a day or be sleep-deprived,' said Wolf, who became a first-time mother five years ago at age 45. With the number of older mothers growing, the American Society for Reproductive Medicine recently began a campaign to make women more aware of the health and social consequences of delaying motherhood."

All In The Family

A 55 year old woman gave birth to her three grandchildren, the Washington Post reports today. The woman had offered to be a surrogate for her grandchildren when her own daughter had tried unsuccessfully for several years to become pregnant through in vitro fertilization. Ethicists' opinions on the surrogacy arrangement were varied. For more info, read on: [link] -- Linda Glenn