A Q is posed:  when is the mother criminally liable for injuries to her 
fetus, when mom has been ingesting illegal substances?

This varies from state-to-state in the USA, and would be a hot potato in 
whatever jurisdiction you are in.  Sometimes there will be laws defining 
what a "person" or "life" is for purposes of prosecution; sometimes there is 
only case law (meaning a judge's decision, made case-by-case).

Then, you have several layers of prosecutorial discretion that would affect 
the trial itself,  starting with the police officer (who decides whom to 
arrest); the charging or indicting authority (usually the district or county 
attorney, who decides which laws to claim were broken); the investigators 
and trials attorneys (who may decide they don't have the necessary proofs to 
make the charges stick); the trial judge (who may decide the prosecutors 
don't have the necessary proofs).

And we haven't even touched the job of the defense attorneys, who would 
argue that all of the charges are invalid, on whatever procedural or 
substantive grounds are available.


In short:  no easy answers.  At all!
Liz Brooks, JD, IBCLC
Wyndmoor, PA, USA

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