Can a woman who takes drugs be a good mother? Even if the answer is yes, we need the help of social workers, medical staff, psychologists and relatives and friends. Many people think that there is only one way for an "addicted mother" to protect her children from drugs physically and mentally. It is well known that pregnant women should be prevented from taking drugs to ensure the health of the fetus. However, whether sending new mothers to prison and depriving them of custody on this ground is really conducive to the growth of children, the progress of women and social harmony, there are opinions in the fields of justice, medical care, social welfare and the protection of women's rights and interests in the United States, and opinions are seriously divided.

Many medical staff and police support punishing pregnant women who take drugs, first of all because they are worried about the health of their children. Some babies born with poisoning will have symptoms similar to the process of "detoxification", such as difficulty in falling asleep, crying and anxiety. This kind of injury may affect children's growth and development, and even lifelong health.

Barry Lester, director of the Center for Child Risk Research at Brown University, pointed out that the most serious symptom of neonatal withdrawal is that the fetus is exposed to opioids such as heroin, methadone and prescription painkillers. A large-scale survey on 20 1 1 found that women who take prescription painkillers on the eve of pregnancy or early pregnancy are 40% more likely to have children with severe heart defects than the average. Children born in this way are also more likely to suffer from spina bifida, hydrocephalus and glaucoma than ordinary newborns. However, because painkillers are not illegal, mothers are generally not prosecuted for giving birth to sick children as long as they can produce prescriptions.

Heroin is becoming more and more popular in American states, but methamphetamine is still a more common hazard, especially in southern and western states. Last year, 375 newborns in Oklahoma were found to have illegal drug residues in their bodies, of which marijuana ranked first and methamphetamine ranked second. From 1994 to 2006, the proportion of pregnant women receiving medication with the help of the federal government increased from 8% to 24%.

Some researchers believe that methamphetamine can stimulate the body to produce more free radicals, which may block genes or hinder the production of protein, thus hindering the development of brain function.

However, Lester pointed out that whether fetal development is damaged by methamphetamine depends on the frequency, quantity and purity of methamphetamine used by pregnant women themselves. Another survey found that children who were found to have methamphetamine at birth did not have obvious IQ problems or developmental retardation when they reached primary school age.

The opposition camp believes that there is no sufficient scientific evidence about how much harm drugs do to the fetus. On the contrary, forcibly separating the mother from the newborn baby will obviously aggravate the harm to the physical and mental health of the mother and the child.