HIGH COURT HEARS CASE OF STILLBORN'S CRACK DEATH

COLUMBIA - A state Supreme Court case expected to decide whether mothers
could be prosecuted for taking drugs while in the late stages of pregnancy
focused instead on legal technicalities during arguments Wednesday.

The lawyer for Brenda Peppers, who pleaded guilty in 1999 to killing her
stillborn child by taking crack cocaine, wanted to argue that the law she
was prosecuted under is unconstitutional.

But justices instead questioned both sides on whether Peppers could include
a condition in her plea agreement allowing her to take her case to the high
court.

"How can we do anything but send this matter back for a retrial or re-
plea?" Chief Justice Jean Toal said to Assistant Attorney General Harold M.
Coombs Jr. "She made the conditional plea and (case precedent) says we
can't allow that. How do we get around that?"

Coombs argued that nothing has changed legally since the state Supreme
Court ruled in 1997 that women could be prosecuted under child abuse laws
if they harmed an unborn child able to live outside the womb. The court
also ruled that a viable fetus is a child and holds certain rights.

Peppers' lawyer, C. Rauch Wise, said that ruling opens the door to mothers
being prosecuted for more than just smoking crack.

"Once you accept that premise, then it's anything that has potential for
harming a child, a viable fetus, that could be prosecuted - that includes
gaining too much weight, that includes a diabetic woman who gets pregnant,"
Wise said.

Wise also questioned whether women could be accused of child abuse after
smoking cigarettes or drinking alcohol.

Opponents of South Carolina's decision to prosecute mothers who use cocaine
say the practice is rooted in bad science from the "crack baby" phenomenon
of the 1980s.

Recent studies show using cocaine is about as harmful on a fetus as
cigarette smoking and less harmful than heavy drinking, said Dr. Deborah A.
Frank, an associate professor of pediatrics at Boston University and author
of a study on the topic published in the Journal of the American Medical
Association.

Frank calls South Carolina's prosecution of mothers who abuse drugs
"irresponsible public health policy" and said it could mean an increase in
infant mortality as addicted women avoid prenatal care because they fear
prosecution.

"Anything that frightens people away from health care is dangerous," Frank
said.

Attorney General Charlie Condon listened to the arguments and thinks the
1997 decision allowing mothers to be prosecuted will be upheld.