wal66
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We all have various opinions about drugs and drug use. Some feel it should be an individual right, some feel some drugs are ok while others are crossing a line while still others are anti-drugs all-together. Regardless of your personal choice about individual circumstances, Im curious what some of you feel about a specific scenario.
A female heroin (it could be crack, meth or any number of other drugs) addict is pregnant.
Example 1: She has the baby while continuing to use and the baby is born damaged.
Example 2: She is forced into treatment but the strain of detox causes a miscarriage.
In either of the two given examples several moral, ethical and legal issues can arise.
In Example 1 if either authorities or even society stands by and allows this to happen arent they just as guilty of neglect as the woman is of child endangerment? Even if a legal definition of child endangerment excludes a fetus (I dont have a legal precedence so maybe Boner knows)? Should the woman be criminally charged, if so then to what degree?
In Example 2 the state steps in and forces the woman into detox. Could they or should they be allowed to do so without any an actual criminal act? Certainly it is ethically wrong for an addict to subject an unborn child to the potential harms of her addictions but is it illegal? So if the state was to take measures and those measures resulted in a miscarriage even though the intentions were to try and save the unborn child should they be liable?
Maybe some might think sterilization is the answer but what if that person was to get clean and stay clean later? Did she forfeit her right to be a mother during the time she was using and therefore be held accountable for the rest of her life?
A female heroin (it could be crack, meth or any number of other drugs) addict is pregnant.
Example 1: She has the baby while continuing to use and the baby is born damaged.
Example 2: She is forced into treatment but the strain of detox causes a miscarriage.
In either of the two given examples several moral, ethical and legal issues can arise.
In Example 1 if either authorities or even society stands by and allows this to happen arent they just as guilty of neglect as the woman is of child endangerment? Even if a legal definition of child endangerment excludes a fetus (I dont have a legal precedence so maybe Boner knows)? Should the woman be criminally charged, if so then to what degree?
In Example 2 the state steps in and forces the woman into detox. Could they or should they be allowed to do so without any an actual criminal act? Certainly it is ethically wrong for an addict to subject an unborn child to the potential harms of her addictions but is it illegal? So if the state was to take measures and those measures resulted in a miscarriage even though the intentions were to try and save the unborn child should they be liable?
Maybe some might think sterilization is the answer but what if that person was to get clean and stay clean later? Did she forfeit her right to be a mother during the time she was using and therefore be held accountable for the rest of her life?