In the United States, a baby is born dependent on opiates every 30 minutes. In Tennessee, the rate is three times the national average.
The drug withdrawal in newborns is called neonatal abstinence syndrome, or NAS, which can occur when women take opiatesduring their pregnancies.
In the spring of 2014, Tennessee passed a controversial law that would allow the mothers of NAS babies to be charged with a crime the state calls "fetal assault." Alabama and Wisconsin have prosecuted new mothers under similar laws, and now other states are also considering legislation.
Supporters of the laws say they can provide wake-up calls to women dependent on drugs and encourage them to get help. The Tennessee law says that getting treatment for drug use is a valid defense against fetal assault charges. But critics say criminalizing the effects of a woman's drug dependence on her newborn child makes it less likely for her to seek help when it could do the most good.
The problem of NAS is growing nationwide. Nearly 6 in 1,000 babies born in the U.S. in 2012 were diagnosed with NAS,according to a study published in the Journal of Perinatologyin August. That's nearly double the level seen in 2009.
[For more of this story, written by Ari Shapiro, go to http://www.npr.org/sections/he...-baby-can-be-a-crime]
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