WOMEN DIDN'T OK DRUG TESTS, COURT SAYS

Richmond, Va -- Most of the pregnant women who sued a South Carolina
hospital for giving them drug tests and handing the results over to police
had not agreed to be tested, a federal appeals court ruled.

The Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston adopted the
drug-testing policy in 1989 to try to stop the crack baby epidemic. The
U.S. Supreme Court has ruled the program, which allowed doctors to give
pregnant women drug tests and then notify police of the results, violated
the Fourth Amendment's protection against unreasonable search and seizure.

On Thursday, a three-judge panel on the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals
ruled 2-1 that eight of the 10 women who sued did not know they were being
tested for cocaine and did not consent to the testing.

Fourth Circuit Appeals Court Judge William W. Wilkins Jr. wrote " .'.'. we
hold that no rational jury could conclude, from the evidence presented at
trial, that (the women) gave their informed consent to the taking and
testing of their urine for evidence of criminal activity for law
enforcement purposes."

The lawsuit now will return to the U.S. District Court for South Carolina
in Charleston for a jury to determine what damages the women should
receive, their lawyer said.

"These women had no idea their doctors were acting as agents for the
police. They said, 'We're here to help you.' Some of the women actually
were there to get help and then they were turned in," said Priscilla Smith,
an attorney with the New York-based Center for Reproductive Law and Policy.

Robert Holmes Hood, who represents the defendants, including the city of
Charleston and the university, could not immediately be reached for comment.

The 10 women sued the hospital in 1993, saying the policy was
unconstitutional. One had spent three weeks in jail and Smith said another
was taken to jail soon after giving birth.

A federal jury in South Carolina found in favor of the hospital and, in
1999, the 4th Circuit upheld the verdict.