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Criminalizing Pregnancy, Cortney E. Lollar
Criminalizing Pregnancy, Cortney E. Lollar
Law Faculty Scholarly Articles
The state of Tennessee arrested a woman two days after she gave birth and charged her with assault of her newborn child based on her use of narcotics during her pregnancy. Tennessee's 2014 assault statute was the first to explicitly criminalize the use of drugs by a pregnant woman. But this law, along with others like it being considered by legislatures across the country, is only the most recent manifestation of a long history of using criminal law to punish poor mothers and mothers of color for their behavior while pregnant. The purported motivation for such laws is the harm …
State Ex Rel. Swann V. Pack: Self-Endangerment And The First Amendment, Sarah N. Welling
State Ex Rel. Swann V. Pack: Self-Endangerment And The First Amendment, Sarah N. Welling
Law Faculty Scholarly Articles
For many years there has been some controversy over whether an individual has the right to endanger himself if his conduct threatens no direct harm to others. This issue has come up in a number of contexts including committing suicide, wearing a helmet while riding a motorcycle, engaging in endurance contests, and refusing a medically indicated blood transfusion. Recently it was raised again when the Holiness Church of God in Jesus Name in the mountains of Tennessee went to court over the right of its members to drink poison. On September 8, 1975, the Supreme Court of Tennessee handed down …