Pregnancy advocates and others on social media are expressing outrage after a 21-year-old Oklahoma woman was convicted of first-degree manslaughter earlier this month for having a miscarriage, which the prosecutor blamed on her alleged use of methamphetamine. https://37560d4738eb5d39e28f220a5b707af6.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-38/html/container.html
Brittney Poolaw, who is a member of the Comanche Nation, according to the Comanche County Detention Center, was sentenced on October 6 by a jury to four years in state prison. Poolaw’s attorney filed a notice of intent to appeal on October 15.
Prosecutors argued that the miscarriage Poolaw suffered was from her use of methamphetamine. An autopsy of the fetus showed it had tested positive for methamphetamine, the Associated Press reported, but there was no evidence her use of the substance is what caused the miscarriage. The autopsy showed the miscarriage could have been caused by a congenital abnormality and placental abruption, when the placenta detaches from the womb, the AP said.
But the state said she had violated the Oklahoma’s manslaughter statute, which says homicide is manslaughter in the first degree […]
This woman should be sterilized,which should be the standard of care for all drug addicts, male and female. Drug addiction is a clear indication of the inability of a human being to be a responsible adult. If indeed this woman’s child died from methamphetamine, directly or indirectly, then she is responsible for taking the infant’s life! The failure of parental responsibility is why we have so many unwanted and unloved children, and likely the indirect cause of so many social ills, such as drug abuse and addiction and crime. If a parent, and especially a woman, cannot provide a safe, loving, and caring home for a child, then she has no reason to become a parent. A drug addict endangers the life of a fetus and child, and this is unacceptable. Drug use during pregnancy should be a criminal offense, and this woman was rightly convicted!
Ridiculous, Michael. For starters, no one becomes an addict on purpose. Inherent in your argument is that the woman became an addict in order to miscarry. Have you ever had a miscarriage, Michael? Secondly, people with addictions can be successfully treated, can recover, and can return to being sound stable people. Thirdly, there was no proof that the addiction caused the miscarriage; miscarriages happen, they just do. Hopefully, the woman will be released soon. Perhaps she has received treatment for her addiction, I hope so and wish her well.