new TN drug law tests infants, sends moms to jail

[badtoworse]

3. It's complicated. I fully agree that a woman using drugs while pregnant is guilty of child abuse.

I think it should be treated as a criminal matter, but I don't feel qualified to opine on whether prison is the best option. I think the mother should have a chance to get clean, but if the mother continues to abuse drugs, then the state has an obligation to protect the child and the mother should go to jail and the baby should become a ward of the state.

This should be interesting. There have been threads yesterday wherein posters where arguing that a fetus is not a child. How would they reconcile that position with laws that consider drug abuse while pregnant to be child abuse. If it's not child abuse, what is it?

ETA: There are probable cause issues involved that need to be considered. To simplify the discussion, I haven't addressed that, but it's certainly an important consideration. It's a separate discussion.