PREGNANT WOMEN WHO USE DRUGS COULD SEE JAIL TIME

It's not that he doesn't care, but Newton County Prosecutor Scott
Watson can't understand what all the fuss is about.

Making headlines recently, Greene County has lately implemented a
policy of prosecuting mothers whose newborn babies are born with
illegal drugs in their system.

But despite the added media attention surrounding the issue, Watson
metaphorically shrugs his shoulders. After all, Newton County has done
the exact same thing for years now.

"It's nothing new to us," he said. "We've had that policy in place for
as long as I can remember."

Watson explained that if a baby is born in Newton County and tests
positive for illegal drugs it constitutes endangering the welfare of a
child. If convicted, the mother could face a Class C felony charge (if
in the first degree) and possibly be sent away to prison for up to
seven years.

Although unsure of how many women Newton County has actually
prosecuted in this type of case, Watson said that it has,
nevertheless, happened in the past, although admitting that
prosecution may sometimes depend on the circumstances involved.

Watson said it's been his approach to initially consider two things
before deciding whether or not to legally press the issue, the first
of which is if the drugs found in the child's system were illegal or
not. But even then there are exceptions.

"I suppose if we found a situation where legal prescription drugs were
found to have affected the child we would have decide on some other
factors such as if the mother knew the drugs would affect her child or
not," Watson said, rolling into the second consideration to entertain.
"The big test to us is whether or not the baby has been affected by
ingestion of a drug."

As an example, he cited a particular situation where the mother was
found to have THC (marijuana) in her system but her newborn child
didn't appear to be affected.

While individual counties are beginning to take or, as in Newton
County's case, have already taken a hard-line approach to mothers who
use drugs just before giving birth, the state of Missouri as a whole
has had a similar policy on the books since at least 1992, though at
first glance it appears to be a little more lenient.

Chapter 191, Section 737 of the Missouri Revised Statutes deals with
children exposed to substance abuse at birth and otherwise. While the
law states that "notwithstanding physician-patient privilege" doctors
may report evidence of drugs in newborn babies, the statute doesn't
actually specify if this constitutes child abuse.

Perhaps that's why counties needing teeth to prosecute are likely
citing Missouri Statute Chapter 568, Section 045 instead, which has
more to do with defining child endangerment.

According to 568.045, the crime of endangering the welfare of a child
has been committed if "the person knowingly acts in a manner that
creates a substantial risk to the life, body, or health of a child
less than 17 years old."

In order to prosecute, counties have included pre-natal drug use as a
"substantial risk."

Furthermore, most of language in 191.737 has to do with reporting
children born with narcotics in their system to the Division of Health
and Senior Services (DHS) rather than law enforcement.

But Watson said that he couldn't recall a single instance when a state
agency initiated a child endangerment case in the type of situation at
hand.

"Actually, a lot of the time it has to do with a mother being arrested
in a meth lab, taken to jail, and then going on to have her baby," he
said.