DRUG TESTING KEEPS WOMEN FROM CARE

Sometimes the most well-meaning ideas have far worse ramifications. Take
the Supreme Court's decision last week that testing post-partum women for
drugs without their consent violates their constitution rights. The case
involved a mother's constitutional right to privacy versus the right of her
unborn child to health and safety, which was jeopardized through the
mother's drug abuse.

The ultimate goal of arresting women who tested positive for drugs shortly
after giving birth was to get them into drug treatment. The unintended
results allegedly were that crack users were choosing not to get prenatal
care or deciding to have their babies outside of hospitals, thus depriving
their newborns of vital medical services.

This was a very important decision in protecting the right of all Americans
to privacy -- and to a confidential relationship with their doctors. The
South Carolina drug-testing program that was involved in this court case
plans to continue, but only after police obtain a search warrant or the
patient's consent.

Whether or not the doctors who participated in this program really had
their patients' welfare in mind or not, the high court ruled that they
shouldn't have turned the test results over to police without their
patients' permission.

Patients normally expect medical test results to be kept private and the
confidential relationship between a patient and physician shouldn't be
broken. The physician could've encouraged the mother to enter a drug
treatment program without involving law enforcement officials.

We can understand the argument that this program was an effort to reduce
crack cocaine use by pregnant women. Once a woman tested positive, she was
arrested for distributing the drug to a minor. But no law enforcement
effort, no matter how awesome the goals, is worth violating our
constitutional freedoms. Like it or not, every American receives the same
protections from these rights -- even pregnant drug abusers.