Tennessee law that punishes mothers of drug-dependent babies to end

A controversial law that criminalizes women who give birth to drug-dependent babies will sunset later this year after a bill in front of a House committee failed Tuesday.

The legislation, sponsored by Rep. Terri Lynn Weaver, R-Lancaster, failed to receive the necessary approval from the Criminal Justice subcommittee, as a result of a tie vote on the six-member committee.

Tennessee made national headlines in 2014 after lawmakers passed a law to make it the first state in the nation to penalize women who give birth to babies who test positive for narcotics.

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Weaver’s bill specifically sought to extend the law beyond its July 1 sunset date.

Rep. Mike Stewart said he worried the unintended consequences of the law have resulted in people being discouraged from seeking drug treatment. He said the law has even caused some women to seek an abortion.

Reiterating Stewart’s point, Charles Harmuth, a doctor practicing addiction medicine in Coffee County, said, “I do feel that in my practice and also in the meetings that I attend, women do discuss having had abortions and also their fear of being prosecuted."

Noting that he has seen an increase in the number of therapeutic abortions since 2014, Harmuth said Weaver's bill would not give women the freedom and trust in the system to come out of the shadows and seek treatment.

"I beg of the committee to look at prevention and treatment as opposed to punitive actions and possible incarceration," he said.

Last week, one of the first women to be charged under the law told the committee that extra jail time would not help mothers get clean and it even discouraged mothers from getting prenatal care.

Rep. William Lamberth, R-Cottontown, questioned Harmuth, who cited state Department of Health totals to make his case against the law, before saying, "It's too early to be able to decide those numbers are caused by this bill."

Tony Clark, district attorney for the First Judicial District, who noted that East Tennessee leads the state in drug-dependent children, said when the bill was introduced two years ago the state had 865 drug-dependent babies born.

"We cannot let this bill die," he said, questioning the argument being made about women seeking  abortions as a result of the law. Clark said he has had only one out of 30-plus women go to jail as a result of the law.

"And that was by her choice, because she refused treatment. The rest have gone through treatment," he said, explaining that the law is not intended to put women in jail but to get them to seek treatment.

Tennessee faces epidemic of drug-dependent babies

Before the committee's vote, Rep. Micah Van Huss, R-Jonesborough, who had been critical of the law until it was amended on Tuesday, said he planned on supporting the measure.

The amendment made several changes to the bill, including a provision aimed at encouraging women to remain under prenatal care until the child is born.

Rep. Andrew Farmer, R-Sevierville, sided with the committee's two Democrats — Reps. Mike Stewart, D-Nashville, and Raumesh Akbari, D-Memphis — resulting in the bill's defeat.

Allison Glass, state director of Healthy and Free TN, praised the action.

"This would have extended a dangerous and harmful law that has jailed pregnant women and new mothers who have used drugs, instead of working to ensure that they have access to effective treatment options," she said. "Health and drug treatment professionals agree that treatment for addiction is critical, but they also agree that bills that focus on punitive measures in order to coerce people into getting treatment simply are not effective. In fact, this law has harmed the very people it was supposed to help."

Reach Joel Ebert at 615-772-1681 and on Twitter @joelebert29.