Tennessee Arrests First Mother Under Its New Pregnancy Criminalization Law
At the beginning of July, 26-year-old Mallory Loyola gave birth to a baby girl. Two days later, the state of Tennessee charged her with assault. Loyola is the first woman to be arrested under a new law in Tennessee that allows the state to criminally charge mothers for potentially causing harm to their fetuses by using drugs.
The legislation, which officially took effect about a week ago, stipulates that “a woman may be prosecuted for assault for the illegal use of a narcotic drug while pregnant, if her child is born addicted to or harmed by the narcotic drug.” However, this may not actually apply to Loyola’s case. So far, there’s no evidence the young woman either used a narcotic drug or caused harm to her newborn child.
More: Tennessee Arrests First Mother Under Its New Pregnancy Criminalization Law
http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=US&vol=411&invol=677
.phone.jpg)
