DRUG TESTS PROTECT THE UNBORN CHILD

I am replying in response to the Supreme Court's concern about public
hospitals testing pregnant women for drug use and providing the results to
the police. The court is questioning if it violates constitutional privacy
rights. I think that testing women for drugs is a good idea. And I don't
think that testing violates a constitutional right; I think that it is
protecting the child. Justice Stephen Breyer argues that is will actually
harm the child because fewer women will come in for treatment if they know
that they are getting tested.

But I do not agree that pregnant women or new mothers who have been found
to be using drugs should be put in jail. I think that the women should be
tested so that help can be provided. It is a woman's choice to use drugs,
but she is not giving her unborn child a choice. Innocent children are
being born with drug addictions because their mothers used drugs during
pregnancy. These children can only be helped if the mothers are helped first.

Sending these women to jail is not the logical answer. That is only putting
the mother and child at greater risk. I don't think that this program
should be used to catch drug users, but it should be used to help the
unborn. Doctors are violating their doctor-patient confidentiality if they
turn in these women. This shouldn't be the intent.

KATIE LEHSTEN

Northwood