HAVE CAUSE, OR JUST LEAVE US ALONE

'Welfare of children' can't justify ignoring of fundamental rights.

Once you become a parent, does law enforcement's legitimate concern for the
welfare of your children mean you have to be denied your rights?

Should police, for example, have the authority to enter -- without warrants
or reasonable suspicions -- every home that contains a 2 year-old, then
arrest the adults there if they find something that might endanger the
child? That sounds a little chilling, doesn't it?

That's the essence of a 6-3 decision by the Supreme Court ruling that
hospitals cannot test pregnant women suspected of drug use and turn
positive results over to police unless the patient consents. Because it
touches on the abortion issue -- what is a fetus, and when does life begin?
- -- it sounds more complicated than it is and is probably more controversial
than it should be.

The issue -- as proponents of the tests would have it -- is not the health
and safety of the developing infant, or even of the mother. Hospitals will
not be -- and never have been -- prevented from performing reasonable tests
to ensure the continued well-being of all their patients.

A hospital in South Carolina -- where the case originated -- went a little
further, though. It worked with police agencies in conducting the tests.
When the women were tested -- without their consent, without warrants or
reasonable suspicion -- those who tested positive for drug use were
arrested and charged with endangering a minor. It might be true, as some of
the women's supporters have argued, that the policy undermined the
doctor-patient relationship and would discourage women from seeking medical
care. It is certainly true that it violated citizens' privacy and their
constitutional right to be left alone in the absence of reasonable suspicion.

Our right to protection against unreasonable search is tricky enough as it
is. The Supreme Court itself has provided "exceptions" to that expectation
of privacy, permitting, for example, the testing of Customs employees
seeking promotions to sensitive positions or high school students
participating in interscholastic sports. Throw in "reproductive rights,"
and the issue can get hopelessly muddled.

So let's stick to the basics: If there is reason to believe people are
doing something illegal, convince a judge and get a warrant. Otherwise,
leave us alone, no matter what higher "social good" you think justifies it.
That is the heart of our whole criminal-justice system.