CASE EXPLORE RIGHTD OF FETUS VERSUS MOTHER
This woman Alicia Beltran was basically arrested for refusing to take an anti-addiction drug. She had a pill addiction the previous year before she got pregnant and she put an end to that habit herself, she thought she did the right thing. She was arrested and taken to court and the court had already appointed a legal guardian for the fetus. Her reaction to this was, "I didn't know unborn children had lawyers." They established that her situation was under the a Wisconsin law known as the "cocaine mom" act, which was adopted in 1998. The law stated that, welfare authorities can forcibly confine a pregnant woman who uses illegal drugs or alcohol "to a severe degree", and who refuses to accept treatment.
As stated in the article, "The Wisconsin law… deprives women of physical liberty, medical privacy, due process and other constitutional rights. " The law is suppose to help the woman and the baby but the woman should have the right to make a choice about her body. The fetus is clearly still inside the mothers body and it apart of her, so she should be the only one making decisions for her and her baby. As stated, "Many medical experts say that these laws are based on exaggerated perceptions of the risks to newborns and are medically counterproductive." I feel like when they took Alicia to court, it was very exaggerated. It was exaggerated and they were out of line just because she had stopped taking the drugs way before conceiving a child and she even pasted a drug test to clarify that. The doctor said that the child's life depended on the action of the case, he insisted that it was a mandatory impatient drug treatment program or incarceration. Alicia lost her job and is currently looking for a temporary job until her due date on January. She is scared that they are going to come back for her baby after the fact and that's really not fair to her. In life, everyone has a choice, especially when it comes to their own body; they are trying to deprive Alicia from that.
Quarshona Collins
October 25, 2013
11:58 pm
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/24/us/case-explores-rights-of-fetus-versus-mother.html?ref=health
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