United Nations working group set to consider pregnancy criminalisation law

This is a statement from Dana Asbury of Healthy and Free TN on their invitation to present information about the Tennessee pregnancy criminalization law to a United Nations working group examining human rights and discrimination against women:

“The United Nations Working Group on the Issue of Discrimination against Women in Law and in Practice [UN WGDAW] is comprised of independent human rights experts. They contribute to the development of international human rights standards and report annually to the Human Rights Council of the UN. They are convening advocates in Montgomery, Alabama to look at issues affecting rural and Black women, including laws that criminalize pregnant women.

Healthy and Free TN will be discussing the law that is currently in effect in Tennessee that allows a women to be charged with assault for the use of narcotics while pregnant. As a result of this policy, women are being separated from their families and put in jail or forced into drug court treatment programs that are often inappropriate or insufficient to meet their health and recovery needs.

We are telling women that they can seek treatment in order to avoid jail time, but there are not enough programs that are licensed and able to treat pregnant women and mothers. Further, we know that the cost of medication assisted treatment, the recommended protocol for pregnant women, is pushing it out of reach for many people.

Click here to read the full article.

Keep up-to-date with drug policy developments by subscribing to the IDPC Monthly Alert.

Thumbnail: Flickr CC Tompkins