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New Mother Charged with Assault for using Meth during Pregnancy[W:8]

Re: New Mother Charged with Assault for using Meth during Pregnancy

Hard Truth said:
Arguably, you should have been charged for knowingly having sex with a drug addict. How is your child doing now?
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Please quote that law to me when you find it. 8) FWIW, we were both doing meth at the time.

I haven't ever had contact with her. (I signed my rights away) The birth mother did seek her out when she was about 15 (and pregnant) 'arguably' giving us our first grandchild.

The young lady has my phone number but, has never called.

My current Wife and I have 2 daughters, two grandchildren and one on the way.
 
Re: New Mother Charged with Assault for using Meth during Pregnancy

Quote Originally Posted by Hard Truth View Post
Arguably, you should have been charged for knowingly having sex with a drug addict. How is your child doing now?
CRUE CAB said:
What? Um, that aint illegal anywhere.
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Not yet.
 
This is a really good point. Every miscarriage could become a murder investigation.


PeteEU said:
Is this new mother a regular meth user? Any evidence of this?

But my point is that these laws are scary as hell and have been abused by prosecutors looking for reelection. Case in point.. Rennie Gibbs. Charged with 1. degree murder after losing her baby to a still birth in the 36th week. The cops found out that she used cocaine.. once while pregnant. There was no link between that and the death of the baby, but 4 years after the tragic still birth, she was arrested and charged with murder. It took 4 years on top of that for the case to be thrown out... And this is not the only example.

These laws are leading down the road to El Salvador like laws that put women in prison for miss-carriages. Is that what you want? That any environmental aspect can basically make a pregnant woman a criminal if she has a miss-carriage?
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I agree. This is a tough issue, but drug addicted people are addicts. Addicts don't care if they go to prison, live on the streets, are exposed to diseases, or even die. We can't expect them to straighten up once they are pregnant for fear they will be prosecuted.

If the policy makers really cared about practical results, they would be going about the issue in a different manner.



Superfly said:
I know. It's a tough call. I think smoking will eventually be prosecutable anyway, because smokers are so demonized now. Alcohol? Look at the Native American population, and the effects of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. Drinking while pregnant is definitely a problem.

What is supposed to be done to the mothers who refuse to protect the babies they are carrying? It's opening a door that people don't want opened. I see that. But I also see that somebody has to protect the health of the child she is carrying, if she won't protect it.
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Most states are supposed to allow new mothers to drop off the babies at hospitals and other safe places. The reasoning is to prevent dumpster babies, but the women are often sought after and investigated for drugs.



CanadaJohn said:
I'm not in any way a bleeding heart liberal, but I fail to see any rationale or benefit to charging a meth addict with assault on a child she just gave birth to. A meth addict doesn't choose a meth addiction as a means to assault her developing child - this woman cannot be proven guilty, in my view, of rationally knowing that her addiction was going to harm her child. An addict's brain does not make those upper level brain decisions when desperate for a fix.

Since she gave birth to the child, I'd like to know how she managed to carry the child to term without anyone actually knowing she was pregnant and if there was medical care involved, even if just some kind of street clinic, those medical professionals should have had her swept off the street and into a facility to ensure the child she was carrying couldn't be further harmed.

Bottom line, for me - get the child all the care and support he/she needs and get the mom some help, if she wants it, but she gets nowhere near the child again until such time as her life has turned around, if it can be.
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SheWolf said:
Most states are supposed to allow new mothers to drop off the babies at hospitals and other safe places. The reasoning is to prevent dumpster babies, but the women are often sought after and investigated for drugs.
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I do think the women should be sought after - after all, the health and well being of the baby may depend on knowing who the parents are. And the woman should be offered help for her addiction/illness. But investigated, nah, unless she's dealing or manufacturing, then take her down.
 
SheWolf said:
Most states are supposed to allow new mothers to drop off the babies at hospitals and other safe places. The reasoning is to prevent dumpster babies, but the women are often sought after and investigated for drugs.
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But the damage is also already done to the baby...brain damage and physical defects.
 
CanadaJohn said:
I do think the women should be sought after - after all, the health and well being of the baby may depend on knowing who the parents are. And the woman should be offered help for her addiction/illness. But investigated, nah, unless she's dealing or manufacturing, then take her down.
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THey'll almost all say no to 'help.' That leaves force. That's a no no in America.

The foster care system is full of these babies and kids btw. FULL. People say the foster care system is so bad? Many many of the kids have tons of mental and emotional issues from abuse or the drug/alc abuse of the parents.

I know. I grew up closely with a church family that took in foster kids...lots of them...and provided a wonderful environment for a constant stream of physically deformed/mentally deficient (to the point of infantilism and blindness for their entire lives) and kids born addicted to drugs, etc etc etc.

Later, my parents started taking in foster kids because my mother is a registered nurse specializing in OB-GYN. She got ALL special needs babies that were mostly from drug addicted mothers.
 
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