VOTERS FAVOR TREATMENT FOR PREGNANT DRUG USERS

COLUMBIA--A survey sponsored by women's-rights groups says a majority of
South Carolinians prefer treatment to prison for pregnant women who use
drugs.

The survey of 600 registered voters found that 39 percent of respondents
supported getting the mother into a drug-treatment program.

Twenty-seven percent would make the treatment mandatory with the threat of
jail time if it is not completed. Ten percent supported prison time.

"We now have confirmation that the people of South Carolina support shifting
state money from punishment to treatment," said Wyndi Anderson, director of
the South Carolina Advocates for Pregnant Women, a sponsor of the study.

Anderson and the national group decided to conduct the survey after Regina
McKnight of Conway was sentenced to 12 years in prison for homicide by child
abuse after her daughter was stillborn with a byproduct of cocaine in her
bloodstream.

The conviction was possible because of a state Supreme Court ruling in 1996
that said a viable fetus is considered a child and that women could be
charged with abuse if they took drugs after their fetuses reached viability.

Former S.C. Attorney General Charlie Condon fought challenges of the law,
and his replacement, Henry McMaster, hasn't shown any signs of changing the
policy.

McMaster "strongly believes pregnant women who knowingly put their
children's lives at risk by taking drugs should be prosecuted to the fullest
extent of the law," attorney general's spokesman Trey Walker said.

Prosecutor Greg Hembree, whose office tried McKnight, said prison time was a
last resort because McKnight didn't try to get help.

The poll, conducted in October, found that 84 percent of the respondents
think drugs are a serious problem in the state.