Once upon a few months ago, in a horrible dark land called Wisconsin, a woman who was 14-weeks pregnant confessed to her doctor that in the previous year, she’d battled— and recently kicked— an addition to pills. But her doctor didn’t believe her, so he told authorities. And under the justification of a surprisingly common “cocaine mom” law, the pregnant woman was shackled, put on trial, and, thanks to the arguments of an attorney appointed to legally represent her unborn fetus, forced to undergo a 78-day drug treatment program. Except — oopsie — the woman was not on drugs. She tested clean.
Here’s just part of 28-year-old Alicia Beltran’s horrifying story, chronicled in a must-read by Erik Eckholm in today’s New York Times,
Two weeks after that prenatal visit the social worker showed up unannounced at Ms. Beltran’s home, telling her to restart Suboxone treatment or face a court order to do so. “I told her I’m off this stuff and I don’t want to go back on it,” she recalled, admitting that she lost her temper and shut the door on the social worker after saying, “Maybe I should just get an abortion.”
Two days later, the sheriffs arrived to take her to the county jail and the initial hearing. The case against Ms. Beltran was bolstered by the statement of Dr. Angela Breckenridge, an obstetrician at the West Bend Clinic South at St. Joseph’s Hospital.
In a letter dated July 16, Dr. Breckenridge said that Ms. Beltran had “openly admitted” taking opiates during pregnancy and was still using Suboxone.
“She exhibits lack of self-control and refuses the treatment we have offered her,” wrote Dr. Breckenridge, who, according to Ms. Beltran, had not personally met or examined her. She recommended “a mandatory inpatient drug treatment program or incarceration,” adding, “The child’s life depends on action in this case.”
Beltran was sent to rehab after being threatened with a jail sentence. As a result, she lost her job.
The law that incarcerated 28 year old Alicia Beltran isn’t really that rare; Wisconsin, Minnesota, Oklahoma, and South Dakota are the four states who currently have laws on the books that gives the state authority to confine pregnant women who are suspected to be endangering their fetuses by using drugs, according to the New York Times. Twenty other states have attempted to pass laws criminalizing substance abuse during pregnancy only to have them blocked by courts.