In 1997, the Supreme Court of South Carolina rendered a decision that concluded that women who gave birth to healthy newborn children who tested positive for cocaine could be prosecuted under the state’s child abuse law.  Despite current thoughts to the contrary, South Carolina appears to be the only state that has a well-defined legal basis for prosecuting women who use drugs during their pregnancy.

In a recent article published in the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyer’s monthly magazine, “The Champion,” it was reported that the factual roots for these types of cases are grounded upon “junk science.”  Indeed, the article stated that “recent studies showing that cocaine is no more harmful to a fetus than nicotine use, poor nutrient, lack of prenatal care of other conditions commonly associated with the urban poor." It also debunks the popular notation that certain other illicit drugs use can have a deleterious effect on in-utero exposure. 

The article noted that the notion that cocaine can have an extremely harmful affect on newborns was significantly influenced by some of the country’s most well respect magazines, news papers, and television stations that disseminated horror stories about crack use in pregnant women in mid 1980's.  The author complained that “this hype, was built on pre-existing cultural and racial stereotypes about black motherhood” and that this article was largely unchallenged until 2004, when 30 well received doctors and researchers concluded that the “crack baby” was virtually a myth. 

The article also referred to a conclusion of a leading scientists on the affects of prenatal exposure to marijuana where the scientist concluded that there has been few reported cases where marijuana use during pregnancy had a negative effect in child birth, even in high risk pregnancies.  Indeed, scientists say that the use of alcohol and cigarettes have a more pronounced effect on a healthy delivered than marijuana.