every spring the world comes back to you

In 1989, the British medical journal The Lancet showed how papers reporting that cocaine harmed babies' behavior were more likely to be accepted for publication than those showing no harm, even when the latter described better-designed studies. In 1992, a Journal of the American Medical Association editorial condemned the "rush to judgment" about cocaine's long-term effects on children, calling the evidence "far too slim".

But the harm has been done. The imaginary crack baby epidemic remains real in the minds of most Americans, providing yet another exemplar of African-American "bad mothering." In 1989, the Los Angeles Times wrote of how "Parents Who Can't Say 'No' Are Creating a Generation of Misery"; The Washington Post told us "For Pregnant Addict, Crack Comes First"; and a New York Times headline showcased an awkward amalgam of sympathy and cost consciousness: "Crack's Tiniest, Costliest Victims."

The myth of the crack baby also helped to fuel criminal prosecutions against pregnant drug abusers, three-fourths of which have been filed against women of color."

Great Blue Heron hunting along the river's edge, Chicago, IL