Pregnancy during addiction is a crime?

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Gurgaon, Haryana, India, Republic of (Free-Press-Release.com) November 17, 2011 -- At 39 I thought I was invincible, there was nothing I couldn't control or do. I was successful in terms of money - all the outward appearances of success, I had a family, successful husband and I was expecting a baby too” says Cornelia Whitner who was sentenced to eight years of jail because her baby tested positive for cocaine at birth. (In 1992, South Carolina)

Detox rehab centers witness various cases of drug addictions, from teenagers to sixty plus retired people. Though, it will be unfair to mention what age group suffers most but certainly nothing can be more unfortunate than addiction of a pregnant woman; for she does not only runs at the risk of her life but also makes her unborn child vulnerable to the deadly effects of drugs.

Statistic says number of babies born to addicted mothers has doubled in the last five year. Where last year there were 1970 woman who were drug addicts at the time of the birth, compared to 1057 in year 2006. Out of those 1970, women with drug addiction, 1211 babies were born with their mother’s addiction.

Many would condemn court’s decision of this conviction in South Carolina; court however presents arguments for convicting the mother. Court says: when fetus becomes a child, he becomes a person with rights. If a baby tests positive for a drug – and not necessarily being addicted to any substance it is a punishable offense. For its mother’s responsibility to protect the life she is going to beget if expected mother does not seek the help and care that she and her growing child needs it would be considered a deliberate crime.

Cornelia Whitner, complaints that despite requesting Judge Frank, to send her in a detox rehab center, she was sentenced eight years to jail. She regrets her addiction and asks strength from god to bear with her memories of jail.

Unlike other addicts who get treatments, Cornelia was severely punished because she was staking her child’s life. In words of a lawyer who studied the case; “More than an addict, the women was an expecting mother, so any negligence at her part due to addiction automatically became uncensored attempt to harm the baby and that explains her conviction.”

Though, lawyers all over the world are arguing about the grounds on which judge Frank based his judgment, complexity of the issue cannot be ruled out.

Weather treatment or punishment; weather a criminal or a victim; the harm caused to the baby by drugs that Cornelia took cannot be made for. Drug addiction is fatal and should be immediately treated. For addicts often involve in promiscuous acts that leads to pregnancy, It can be concluded in the end: pregnancy during addiction is a crime, if not constitutional, then moral.

Cryobanks International India, accreted by AABB Accreditation and recently awarded with the most prestigious business award of the world THE BIZZ 2010 is a joint venture between pregnancy guide USA and RJ Corp founded in 2006. Cryobanks International is a leader in the collection, processing and banking of pregnancy weekly.

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