Assignment: How States Handle Drug Use During Pregnancy

After completing the readings in Unit 2 and further researching the topic, post a two-paragraph response to the following:
Read Box 2.3: Should Women Who Use Drugs During Pregnancy Be Arrested and Jailed?on page 50 of your textbook. This box describes the results that occurred when pregnant women with a history of drug abuse faced potential arrest and incarceration. Additionally, read . You will notice that only 3 states consider substance abuse during pregnancy to be a crime, and yet 18 states have laws that say drug use during pregnancy is child abuse, and in nearly every state women have been prosecuted for drug use during pregnancy. Answer the following questions in your post:
Critics contend that the criminal justice system should not be involved in what is considered a healthcare problem. What do you think?
Is the issue of mothers using illicit drugs more of a legal or medical concern? Why do you think that?
What if Florida was considering enacting a law that would make substance abuse during pregnancy a crime – what would be the pros and cons? Would you be for or against this law, and why?
Lifespan Development: A Psychological Perspective
By Martha Lally and Suzanne Valentine-French (Published 2017)
This Open Education Resource (OER) textbook was funded by a grant from the College of Lake County Foundation and supported by the Business and Social Sciences Division.
This textbook can be found at: http://dept.clcillinois.edu/psy/LifespanDevelopment.pdf
Publication is under the following license:
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 unported license to view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, 171 Second Street, Suite 300, San Francisco, California, 94105, USA.
2
Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Introduction to Lifespan Development
Chapter 2: Heredity, Prenatal Development, and Birth
Chapter 3: Infancy and Toddlerhood
Chapter 4: Early Childhood
Chapter 5: Middle and Late Childhood
Chapter 6: Adolescence
Chapter 7: Emerging and Early Adulthood
Chapter 8: Middle Adulthood
Chapter 9: Late Adulthood
Chapter 10: Death and Dying
3