SUPREME COURT HEARS CASE OF CRACK MOTHER CHARGED WITH HARMING FETUS

COLUMBIA - Two years ago Brenda Peppers never thought she would
be sitting before five state Supreme Court justices, allowing her
lawyer to bring up a part of her life she'd rather forget.

The Greenwood County woman pleaded guilty in 1999 to killing her
stillborn child by taking crack cocaine. She was sentenced to two
years of probation as part of a plea deal.

At the time, she didn't think the sentence was fair. But she didn't
want to bring attention to herself by going to trial.

On Wednesday, Peppers, 35, will be at the Supreme Court when her
lawyer, C. Rauch Wise, argues that the law Peppers was prosecuted
under is unconstitutional.

Peppers, who said she hasn't used cocaine since going into a six-week
coma right after her daughter was born dead, said she will be there
because people don't realize how tough addiction can be. She said it
seems especially harsh to punish a mother already dealing with the
loss of a child.

"I never want another woman to ever go through what I have had to go
through," Peppers said.

Wise plans to ask the Supreme Court to overturn a ruling that allows
prosecutors to charge women who take cocaine when their fetuses can
live outside the womb.

The attorney general's office will argue the 1997 decision by the
court still stands. In that case, the justices ruled women could be
prosecuted under child abuse laws if they harmed an unborn child when
it could live outside the womb.

Opponents of the decision point out no state has followed South
Carolina's lead.

"The South Carolina Supreme Court stands alone among the 50 states in
permitting the prosecution, conviction and punishment for child
endangerment of pregnant drug users for ingesting substances on which
they are dependent," Daniel Abrahamson, a San Francisco lawyer, wrote
in a brief on behalf of seven national and state medical
associations.

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 in March.

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.

Peppers said she has remained drug-free since coming out of the coma,
but is afraid to have children again.