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Fetal Protection in Wisconsin's Revised Child Abuse Law: Right Goal, Wrong Remedy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2021

Kenneth A. De Ville  and
Loretta M. Kopelman
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In the summer of 1998, the Wisconsin State legislature amended its child protection laws. Under new child abuse provisions, Wisconsin judges can confine pregnant women who abuse alcohol or drugs for the duration of their pregnancies. South Dakota enacted similar legislation almost simultaneously. The South Dakota statute requires mandatory drug and alcohol treatment for pregnant women who abuse those substances and classifies such activity as child abuse. In addition, the South Dakota legislation gives relatives the power to commit pregnant women involuntarily for two days; a court order can place the pregnant women in custody for up to nine months. These recent legislative “successes” follow scores of failed attempts by legislators in other states to establish fetal protection laws aimed at women who use and abuse drugs and alcohol during pregnancy.

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Article
Information
Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics , Volume 27 , Issue 4 , Winter 1999 , pp. 332 - 342
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of Law, Medicine and Ethics 1999

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