Alabama considers drug use during pregnancy a felony. The state’s chemical endangerment law has been used to prosecute women who expose their unborn babies to drugs in utero. This makes false-positive drug screens at hospitals particularly fraught for people who give birth. A positive screen can mean loss of custody of the baby and other children, involvement with social services, and even incarceration.
Alabama leads the nation in charging women with felonies for drug use in pregnancy. In this story, Alabama women share their experiences of false-positive screens, and experts talk about how the situation could or should be fixed.