title: Helping women helping children: drug policy and future generations.
abstract: Our primary social response to substance abuse during pregnancy has been legal, punitive, and coercive. Rooted in the belief that the maternal-fetal relationship is primarily adversarial in nature, this response is unlikely to deter women from abusing drugs during pregnancy. An alternative perspective in which the maternal-fetal relationship is viewed as an interactive unit where the needs of one define the needs of both would be more appropriate. Only by assisting rather than punishing women are we likely to help them, their fetuses, and their children.
authors.affiliation: Georgetown University Law Center, Washington, DC 20001.
authors.forename: P A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: King
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D002961:Civil Rights; D004335:Drug and Narcotic Control; D005260:Female; D005333:Fetus; D006801:Humans; D037141:Mandatory Programs; D033261:Maternal-Fetal Relations; D028681:Moral Obligations; D026684:Personal Autonomy; D011247:Pregnancy; D011248:Pregnancy Complications / Q000534:rehabilitation; D037841:Pregnant People; D011640:Public Policy; D011678:Punishment; D012098:Reproduction; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000534:rehabilitation; D014481:United States; D035141:Voluntary Programs; D016387:Women's Health