OKLAHOMA – Oklahoma doctors specializing in Obstetrics and Gynecology, Maternal-Fetal Medicine, Women’s Wellbeing, and Compound Use Issues in Being pregnant signed a joint letter condemning the criminalization of pregnancy and drug use.
37 Oklahoma-primarily based medical doctors signed the adhering to letter.
“We have an understanding of the urgency felt by our fellow Oklahomans to assist ensure each supply final results in a healthy mother and a healthier newborn. We wholeheartedly share that urgency. We have dedicated our experienced life to preserving every single affected individual in our treatment in the greatest wellness possible. But the prosecution of anticipating and new mothers who use substances is terrible community plan for both infants and mothers.
“On Oct 5, 2021, 21-year-outdated Brittney Poolaw was convicted of manslaughter in the 1st diploma for experiencing a 15-17 week miscarriage. She was sentenced to 4 many years in jail. We a short while ago figured out of two other girls in Oklahoma who, just like Ms. Poolaw, have been charged with manslaughter for going through the decline of a pregnancy – and without having any scientific evidence proving their drug use induced their unfortunate pregnancy losses. A manslaughter conviction can perhaps result in a lifestyle sentence.
“Additionally, there are at least numerous dozen girls billed with different crimes in relation to their pregnancies during our condition in latest several years. Quite a few females have been billed with felony child neglect – a criminal offense that carries a possible daily life sentence.
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“Oklahoma boy or girl neglect guidelines do not even need that prosecutors allege that any damage to the infant happened, and quite a few of the mothers staying prosecuted have specified delivery to healthier infants. As we noticed in the prosecution of Ms. Poolaw, these prosecutions depend on the assert that pregnancy and its outcomes are felony challenges as an alternative of general public overall health challenges.
“As health care medical doctors, we are dedicated to lowering probable drug-associated harms at every single sensible prospect and do not endorse the non-professional medical use of controlled substances— including liquor or tobacco—during pregnancy. Additional, our determination to maternal and kid wellbeing and the moral mandates relating to the provision of medical treatment involves us to speak out when professional medical misinformation is applied to impact public plan and legal prosecutions. We are gravely anxious that prosecutors willfully ignore clinical science in pursuit of these unsafe prosecutions.
“Prosecuting mothers in want of therapeutic help for drug use is damaging. Just about every primary health-related and public health and fitness corporation in the United States has reached this exact same conclusion. Facts show that criminalization of substance use in being pregnant deters moms from looking for health care for themselves and their youngsters. Scaring pregnant patients absent from the doctor’s office will not transfer us nearer to much healthier pregnancies and deliveries in Oklahoma. How can our individuals belief us if they anxiety we may call the police and have them arrested when we leave the test place?
“Together, we connect with on all Oklahoma district attorneys to finish the prosecution of gals with compound abuse diseases that didn’t stop to exist once they grew to become expecting. In distinct, we desire that Comanche County District Lawyer Kyle Calbeka, who is prosecuting the bulk of these situations, quit this dangerous exercise.
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“If the reason of these prosecutions is to improve the overall health and safety of Oklahoma infants and their mothers, the effect is the specific opposite. These prosecutions make it tricky to make sure our sufferers get the healthcare and assist they want due to the fact they might moderately worry legal prosecution. If this optional prosecution stance persists, the adverse wellness outcomes for moms and babies in our point out can only grow far more dire.”
Stephanie Pierce, MD Marvin Williams, DO Lieschen Quiroz, MD, FACOG Bryan Christopher Roehl, DO, FACOG David Gahn, MD, FACOG Lora Larson, MD, FACOG Andrew Broselow, MD, FACOG Hugh Nadeau, MD, FACOG Katherine A. Smith, MD, FACOG Cameron Michelle Halsell, DO Kathryn Lindsay, MD Danielle Allen Herried DO, MBA Ann Tran, DO Lee P. Frye MD, FACOG Thomas Lane, MD, FACOG D. Nicholas Wilson, MD, FACOG Erin Alward, MD
Robert Mannel, MD, FACOG Mukesh T. Parekg, MD. FACOG John Alan Fuller, MD, FACOG Kenneth G. Thompson, MD, (ret.) Grant Cox, MD, FACOG Michael Seikel, MD John R. Stanley, MD Blake Porter, MD, FACOG Jennifer W. Gibbens, MD Tracey Lakin, MD Jameca Selling price, MD, MPH, FACOG Ghazaleh Moayedi, DO, MPH, FACOG Kate C. Arnold, MD Joshua Yap, MD, MPH Dena O’Leary, MD Shawn Strain, MD Dana Stone, MD Lydia Nightingale, MD Caroline Flint, MD Michael Collins, MD.
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