"The principal import of existing research is not that drug and alcohol use during pregnancy is 'safe,' but rather that no scientific or legal basis exists for concluding that exposure to these substances will inevitably cause harm or that the risks presented by use of these substances are any greater than those associated with many other conditions and activities common in the lives of all people, including pregnant women.
"In spite of scientific fact, prosecutors continue to use medical misinformation to justify new arrests of pregnant women and to ask courts to radically rewrite state law to permit the prosecution of pregnant women.n35 It is time for criminal defense attorneys to zealously challenge the junk science at the heart of these prosecutions."
Lynn Paltrow and Katherine Jack, Pregnant Women, Junk Science, and Zealous Defense, 34 The Champion 30, May 2010.
