troppo controllo sull'utero delle donne............
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To : badgirlz-list@invent=
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Date : Mon, 15 Dec 2003 14:17:28 -0800 (PST=
)
Subject : [Badgirlz-list] Criminalizing motherhood
> From sexyshock=
list
>
> > Criminalizing Motherhood
> >
> >
> > Donna di 26 an=
ni in carcere negli USA (South
> > Carolina) deve scontare una
> > cond=
anna a 12 anni per aver partorito una bambina
> > morta. L'uso di cocain=
a
> > durante la gravidanza all'origine del reato in un
> > paese dove =
il feto e'
> > considerato soggetto giuridico e le leggi "in difesa
> >=
dei minori" prevedono
> > condanne penali per le madri che mettano a ri=
schio
> > la sopravvivenza del
> > feto. In South Carolina negli ultimi=
15 anni almeno
> > altre 100 donne sono
> > state accusate per uso di =
droga durante la
> > gravidanza (circa 300 in tutti
> > gli USA).
> > =
> > ***
> >
> > Fonte:
> > http://www.alternet.org/story.html?Story=
ID=3D17320
> >
> > Criminalizing Motherhood
> > By Silja J.A. Talvi, =
The Nation
> > December 4, 2003
> >
> > Regina McKnight is doing twel=
ve years in prison for
> > a stillbirth,
> > carving out a dangerous in=
tersection between the
> > drug war and the
> > antichoice movement. In=
the eyes of the South
> > Carolina Attorney
> > General's office, McKn=
ight committed murder.
> >
> > Her crime? Giving birth to a five-pound=
, stillborn
> > baby. As McKnight
> > grieved and held her third daught=
er Mercedes's
> > lifeless body, she could
> > never have imagined that=
she was about to become the
> > first woman in
> > America convicted f=
or murder by using cocaine while
> > pregnant.
> >
> > The absence of=
any scientific research linking
> > cocaine use to stillbirth
> > didn=
't matter. Nor did it matter that the state
> > couldn't conclusively=0D
=
> > prove that McKnight's cocaine use actually caused
> > Mercedes's sti=
llbirth.
> > What mattered was that South Carolina prosecutors
> > were=
hellbent on using
> > McKnight as an example.
> >
> > Thanks largely=
to the efforts of the former
> > Republican Attorney General,
> > Char=
lie Condon, now running for US Senate, South
> > Carolina is the only=0D
=
> > state in the nation with a child-abuse law that can
> > be applied t=
o
> > "viable fetuses." At least 100 women have
> > subsequently faced =
criminal
> > charges in the past fifteen years for using drugs
> > whil=
e pregnant in that
> > state, according to the Post and Courier
> > (Ch=
arleston). South Carolina
> > was also the first and only state to test =
pregnant
> > women for drug use
> > and report the findings to police w=
ithout the
> > woman's consent - or a
> > warrant - until the US Suprem=
e Court struck down
> > this bill as a
> > violation of the Fourth Amen=
dement.
> >
> > But McKnight, now 26, was the first to be imprisoned=0D
=
> > on a murder
> > conviction under the "viable fetuses" law. In
> > O=
ctober McKnight lost her
> > best shot at release when the Supreme Court=
decided
> > not to review the
> > case, allowing the conviction to sta=
nd by default.
> >
> > "What South Carolina has done, in effect, is ma=
de
> > pregnancy a crime
> > waiting to happen," says Lynn Paltrow, an =
attorney
> > and the executive
> > director of National Advocates for P=
regnant Women in
> > New York.
> >
> > Paltrow served as one of the a=
ttorneys who took the
> > appeal to the
> > nation's highest court. In =
so doing, she joined
> > twenty-seven other
> > medical and drug policy=
groups that sought to
> > overturn the conviction,
> > including the A=
merican Public Health Association,
> > the American Nurses
> > Associat=
ion and the American Society of Addiction
> > Medicine. These
> > mains=
tream health organizations saw the situation
> > exactly for what it
> =
> was: an extreme manifestation of an increasingly
> > successful antich=
oice
> > agenda wrapped in the cloak of the War on Drugs.
> >
> > "Th=
e prosecution, conviction, and sentencing of Ms.
> > McKnight for her=0D
=
> > stillbirth not only distorts the law, but
> > contradicts the clear =
weight
> > of available medical evidence, violates fundamental
> > noti=
ons of public
> > health, and undermines the physician-patient
> > rela=
tionship," as the
> > organizations put it in their amicus brief to the=0D
=
> > Court.
> >
> > Approximately 275 women nationwide have already
> =
> faced charges relating
> > to drug use during their pregnancies, says =
Paltrow.
> > In a country where a
> > pregnant woman has no legal right=
to safe housing,
> > daycare, nutritious
> > food, medical care or men=
tal health services, it's
> > horrifying to witness
> > the development=
of a law that allows for women's
> > bodies to be treated as
> > if th=
ey were mere vessels.
> >
> > A pregnant woman who has used drugs does=
n't easily
> > win public sympathy,
> > and the prosecutors knew exactl=
y how to demonize a
> > "drug mom." But, as
> > Judy Appel of the Drug =
Policy Alliance points out,
> > women who are in
> > serious need of pr=
enatal healthcare - and at most
> > risk of having medical
> > problems=
- are even more reluctanct to turn to a
> > system that might press
> =
> charges if something goes wrong with their
> > pregnancies.
> >
> >=
McKnight was a seasonal tobacco farm worker with a
> > tenth-grade educ=
ation
> > who was living homeless, drug-addicted and trying to
> > cope=
with the
> > recent loss of her mother, who was run over by a
> > truc=
k. McKnight never
> > received help for her drug problems. (South
> > C=
arolina, it's worth noting,
> > ranks lowest in the nation for spending =
on drug and
> > alcohol treatment
> > programs, according to the Drug P=
olicy Alliance.)
> >
> > The legal precedent set in the McKnight case =
is far
> > graver than it might
> > seem at first glance. As the laws h=
ave been written
> > in South Carolina,
> > child abuse charges could a=
s easily be applied to
> > pregnant women who
> > smoke, drink even a m=
oderate amount of alcohol, work
> > around certain
> > kinds of chemica=
ls or even change cat litter - in
> > essence, any activity
> > that is=
"within the realm of public knowledge" of
> > causing potential harm=0D
=
> > to a fetus.
> >
> > Appel, who worked extensively on the amicus br=
ief to
> > both the South
> > Carolina and US Supreme Courts, notes tha=
t
> > McKnight's case has since
> > emboldened South Carolina to go aft=
er other women,
> > even retroactively.
> > In early January South Caro=
lina prosecutors are
> > scheduled to go after
> > their second murder =
conviction against a mother. In
> > this case, it's
> > another African=
-American woman, by the name of
> > Angelia Kennedy, who
> > allegedly =
smoked cocaine during her pregnancy, which
> > resulted in a
> > stillb=
irth five years ago.
> >
> > This kind of persecution hasn't stopped a=
t the state
> > line. Right after
> > the Supreme Court decided not to =
review McKnight's
> > conviction, Honolulu
> > city prosecutors went af=
ter a 31-year-old native
> > Hawaiian, Tayshea
> > Aiwohi for the death=
of her two-day-old son. The
> > prosecutor's office has
> > charged Ai=
wohi with manslaughter for using crystal
> > methamphetamine
> > during=
her pregnancy. Although Honolulu prosecutors
> > denied any
> > connec=
tion to the McKnight case, they went further
> > to say that they
> > w=
ould now consider prosecutions of "meth moms" and
> > alcohol abusers, e=
ven
> > when those babies survive.
> >
> > Women like McKnight and Ai=
wohi are the victims of
> > prosecutors who have
> > decided that they =
have the right to judge and punish
> > women for what
> > happens to th=
eir bodies. It is a definitive step
> > toward a government
> > that wo=
uld have the power to tell us what
> > constitutes acceptable
> > pregn=
ancy and motherhood
> >
>
>
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