METH-PREGNANCY BILL DRAWS NATIONAL CRITICISM

CHEYENNE -- A bill in the Wyoming House of Representatives to allow
criminal prosecution of mothers who exposed their newborn children to
methamphetamine in the womb is drawing criticism from a public health
professionals nationwide who say it would discourage women from
seeking medical care.

The sponsor of the bill, Rep. Elaine Harvey, R-Lovell, says she
agrees that meth addicts need treatment. But she says addicts often
won't seek treatment on their own, and says that's why the state
needs to step in.

Harvey's bill, titled "Methamphetamine -- endangering children before
birth" is scheduled for final reading in the House today.

In an interview Wednesday, Harvey emphasized that her bill would
allow drug courts to require mothers who test positive for meth use
when they give birth to get intensive outpatient treatment, attend
parenting classes and stay employed.

"All of those can be conditions of the court, and it means that
people stay in their own community, and they learn how to heal,"
Harvey said. "And they learn how to put their own family back
together in their own community and their own setting."

A fiscal analysis of Harvey's bill by the state's nonpartisan
Legislative Service Office states that there's no way to predict the
number of women who would be sentenced to probation or incarceration
if the bill becomes law.

Lynn Paltrow, executive director of National Advocates for Pregnant
Women based in New York City, said Wednesday that the letter opposing
Harvey's bill came together after Paltrow mentioned the legislation
at a health conference in Atlanta last month. The letter, addressed
to the Wyoming Legislature and Gov. Dave Freudenthal, is signed by
the American Public Health Association and more than 80 other health
organizations and professionals nationwide.

"(T)he problem of alcohol and drug use during pregnancy is a health
issue best addressed through education and community-based treatment,
not through the criminal justice system," the letter states.

Sheigla Murphy, director of the Center for Substance Abuse Studies at
the Institute for Scientific Analysis in San Francisco, is among
those who signed the letter. In a telephone interview Wednesday,
Murphy said she's been researching and writing about pregnant drug
users for about 30 years.

"I think they've got it a little bit backward," Murphy said of the
Wyoming bill. "When women who are abusing drugs become pregnant, this
is an opportunity to get them into health care, get them into
treatment and get them out of environments where drugs are being
used. By threatening them with jail, you just push them further underground."

Sharon Breitweiser, executive director of NARAL Pro-Choice Wyoming,
said Wednesday her group shares the concern that the bill would deter
women from seeking prenatal care. In addition, Breitweiser said her
group is concerned that the bill seeks to advance the legal rights of
unborn children.

"It's an agenda to recognize the unborn and advance the legal
standing of a fetus in the law," Breitweiser said. "Many of the same
people who are sponsoring these bills are adamantly opposed to
abortion, and they believe that life begins at conception. And they
believe there's a state interest in protecting life from the moment
of conception."

Harvey says Breitweiser is wrong in her suggestion that the bill is
aimed at undermining abortion rights.

"Absolutely not," Harvey said. "This bill was so carefully worded
that it doesn't deal with a child before it's born."

Harvey said that if a pregnant woman wants to seek drug treatment
during pregnancy, she could not be charged under the bill.

"'Go get treatment' -- that's the message I'd like to send," Harvey
said. "Clean up your act, and you'll never be charged."