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The United States Supreme Court heard oral arguments in October, 2000, over the matter of pregnant women being tested for drug use without their knowledge or consent, and the release of the test results to the police. The lawyer who represents the pregnant women told the Supreme Court that doctors became "like police officers searching suspects." However, the hospital's attorney argued that the doctors were only doing their job, preventing the women from "doing irreparable harm" to their unborn. Where do the rights of a pregnant woman end, and the rights of her unborn child begin? In this case, a hospital in Charleston, South Carolina, secretly tested pregnant women and gave those results to the police. Ten women who were arrested either during their pregnancy or immediately after giving birth have sued the state and the city officials, arguing that the new tactic violates their Fourth Amendment right against unreasonable searches. Many of the 30 women who were arrested were seized by police right out of their hospital beds, while they were still weak, in pain, and recovering from having just given birth. The government argued that it was an application of the "special needs" doctrine, which allows the government to conduct searches without meeting the Fourth Amendment's warrant and probable cause requirements. However, the United States Supreme Court had a different view. The Supreme Court held that a state hospital's performance of a diagnostic test to obtain evidence of a patient's criminal conduct for law enforcement purposes is an unreasonable search if the patient has not consented to the procedure. The Court also found that the governemt's interest in using the threat of criminal sanctions to deter pregnant women from using cocaine could not justify a departure from the general rule that an official nonconsensual search is unconstitutional if not authorized by a valid warrant. Click on this "Cocaine Kids" link to read an essay on the issue of crack cocaine and children, how two states, New York and California have dealt with this issue, and where we are headed in the future. The contents of this essay are the property of FamilyLawyerService, and may be printed by visitors to this website. The essay may not be redistributed without express written permission of the author.
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