Wisconsin woman Tamara Loerstcher was suffering from an untreated thyroid condition and depression and began to self-medicate with drugs. Eventually, she suspected she may be pregnant. When she went to the hospital for a pregnancy test, she told doctors about her drug use. Instead of caring for her, the hospital workers called the police, and she wound up jailed at 14 weeks pregnant.
The arrest was made due to Wisconsin Act 292, known as the "cocaine mom" law, which grants the state the power to detain or jail pregnant woman for drug use if she “habitually lacks self-control” and her substance use poses a “substantial risk” to the health of an egg, embryo, or fetus.
Criminalizing pregnant women by granting personhood rights to fetuses is NOT the answer to drug use. People who use drugs deserve care and attention, not time behind bars, where there is little to no chance they will get healthier. Laws criminalizing pregnant women who use drugs are meant to protect the fetus, but they actually have the opposite effect: they harm the mother, further stressing the fetus.
Tell Wisconsin: Repeal Act 292 that leads to jailing of pregnant women!
As for Tamara, her medical records were given to the state without her consent, and she was sent to jail for 17 days. While there, Tamara had no access to a prenatal doctor and was thrown in solitary confinement for refusing to take yet another pregnancy test while in jail. She was even threatened with a taser. To top it all off: she'll be forced to be on the child abuse registry for life, which will make it impossible for her to work as a nurse's aid to support her child when he's born. And this law is supposed to make fetuses safer?!
Pregnant women need care, not jail time. Tell Wisconsin: Repeal Act 292 that leads to jailing of pregnant women!
