Q&A Hero

Question

Since the late 1980s, policy makers have debated the question of how society should deal with the problem of women's substance abuse during pregnancy. No state had criminalized drug use during pregnancy until Westphalia (in the western United States) passed H.R. 2490, which specifically made alcohol or drug use during pregnancy, including the use of prescribed narcotics, a criminal offense. The law specifically equated ingestion of any controlled substances (legal or illegal) with child abuse.
Wilma Rubble was a Gulf War Veteran who was awarded the Purple Heart after being injured in combat. She recovered but had been on Percocet since 2005 for ongoing pain from her combat injury. When she found out she was pregnant her doctor informed her that H.R. 2490 prohibited him from refilling any more Percocet prescriptions for her. She then found a new primary care doctor who was willing to treat her pain with another narcotic that was known to have fewer side effects. However, she and the doctor were turned in to the police by a lab tech who had analyzed blood drawn from Rubble during Rubble's eighteenth week of her pregnancy. The tech found evidence of narcotic use during the blood analysis. Rubble was charged under the state criminal statute and was convicted of child abuse, which carried a maximum sentence of twenty-six months in jail. She appealed to the state Supreme Court, arguing that her right to privacy specifically allows her to take any medication legal under state law. The high court disagreed and upheld her conviction. The majority argued that the state has an interest in protecting the life of a fetus.
Rubble has appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. She argues that life does not begin until birth and that her right to privacy outweighs the state's interest in protecting the unborn fetus. As a justice on the Court, how would you decide this case? Use the privacy cases you have read in class to justify your answer.

Answer

*A. Varies

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