Maternal drug abuse: laws and ethics as agents of just balances and therapeutic interventions

Among the many pressing legal, psychosocial, and ethical issues surrounding perinatal chemical dependence is one of achieving balances between far-reaching rights claimed for the unborn and for children, and those claimed by their mothers. In an attempt to achieve balances that are just and promote positive consequences, policies and laws have evolved that have pitted disparate individuals and groups against each other, most obviously mothers against their fetuses and children. Some such policies have had negative consequences such as the further weakening of already at-risk families and the erosion of doctor/patient trust. This article asserts that ethical concepts and legal tenets must be combined to develop new paradigms designed to minimize conflict and to achieve just and therapeutic balances between the rights and needs of those involved.