Not long ago, there was an attempt to pass a law where if a baby was born sick and addicted to drugs, the mother could face child abuse charges and have parental rights terminated. Stepping back from any emotional response—either to the criminalization of addiction or to the suffering of newborns—is extremely difficult. I don’t know if it’s a subject that I could have that level of clarity on because it’s such an emotional topic.
But what I want to highlight is the political bloc who were most effective against the law, and led to its defeat: community healthcare workers who were on the frontlines, whose careers very often were at that intersection of drug abuse and child suffering.
Their argument wasn’t primarily about the parental rights of the mothers, or about the criminalization of substance use disorders. Instead, it was about what public health policies work in the real world, and what policies cause more harm. They argued these women would be afraid to access resources for harm reduction during pregnancy. This would result in heavier drug usage during pregnancy than if they were able to access harm reduction strategies and resources. There would also be an increase in abandoned infants, babies who are very sick and need immediate medical help. Fear of punishment wouldn’t help anyone.
In a practical manner, this legislation would likely do more harm while not addressing the actual problems. Several different policies were instituted instead, ones that had been proven effective in practice. I think that there are some situations that we can only find solutions if we can step away from our immediate emotional response to think, or understand that we aren't the right person to try to fix this problem, and focus on where we can make a positive impact instead.
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