Hospitals Are Reporting Pregnant People to the Authorities...for Meds the Hospital Gave Them
Reproductive justice advocates have long warned that the medical and family policing systems sometimes collude. This results in people who have abortions or miscarriages being investigated and punished by state authorities, like law enforcement or child welfare services. According to a new investigation by the Marshall Project, hospitals across the country are reporting pregnant people to said authorities… for testing positive for medications that the hospitals gave them. The report details several examples, and stresses that these cases are “far from isolated incidents.”
In one heart-rending case, in 2023, a Texas woman named Amairani Salinas was 32 weeks pregnant when she needed an emergency c-section because her fetus was stillborn. As the hospital prepared the mother of three for her procedure, they gave her midazolam, which is a benzodiazepine commonly prescribed to keep patients calm. The following day, while Salinas held her stillborn baby, a social worker told her she was being reported to welfare authorities because a drug test revealed traces of benzodiazepine. Consequently, the state conducted an invasive, four-month investigation into Salinas, all while the report notes that she was still “trying to fight off paralyzing depression while processing her grief and caring for her other children.” Salinas questioned why child welfare authorities are “giving your attention to this person who’s a good mom, who hasn’t done anything, instead of a child who may actually be in danger?”
In another case, an Indiana woman named Victoria Villanueva had her labor induced at 41 weeks. Doctors provided her with narcotics to ease the pain of contractions. But the following day, a social worker told Villanueva that her baby’s meconium — the first bowel movement — tested positive for opiates, prompting the Indiana Department of Child Services to open a similar investigation into her. Villanueva was cleared, but she told the outlet she struggled to enjoy new motherhood while fearing she could lose her baby at any moment.
The Marshall Project also cited the case of an Oklahoma mother who tested positive for meth after giving birth. Her newborn and three other kids were put into foster care for 11 days until authorities realized it was due to the heartburn medication the hospital gave her. In New York, an unnamed mother lost custody of her toddler and newborn after testing positive for fentanyl, because the epidural the hospital gave her had traces of the drug. One 2022 study found 91% of women given fentanyl in their epidurals later tested positive for it.
https://www.jezebel.com/pregnant-people-are-being-reported-to-the-police-by-hospitals-for-medications-the-same-hospitals-gave-them
WTF? Talk about a catch-22!!!!
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