Women Prosecuted for Pregnancy for Medical Cannabis Use, Record Number of Prosecutions in Year After Dobbs

Over two hundred pregnant women were prosecuted for conduct related to pregnancy, abortion, pregnancy loss, or childbirth in the first year following the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision. Some women have been prosecuted for using medical marijuana despite being registered patients under state law, as Marijuana Moment’s Ben Adlin highlighted.

This emerges from a report by pregnancy justice, a reproductive rights organization entitled “Pregnancy as a Crime: A Preliminary Report on the First Year After Dobbs.”

Following the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark June 24, 2022 decision to overturn Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey and repeal the constitutional right to abortion in 2022, a sharp increase in pregnancy-related prosecutions is evident.

The report found that “the year from June 24, 2022 to June 23, 2023 saw the highest number of pregnancy-related prosecutions documented in a single year.”

Almost 97% of the 210 criminal cases filed involved substance use during pregnancy.

In 133 of these cases, drug use was the only allegation. After methamphetamines, cannabis was the second most common drug in 86 cases.

“It is significant that in 86 cases the police or prosecutors alleged that the defendant had ingested some form of THC during her pregnancy, and in 31 of those 86 cases the only allegation supporting the prosecution was THC use.” ” said the report. “Even more shocking is that in five of these cases, there were statements in the court records that the defendant had a medical marijuana card, indicating that she was accused of taking legally prescribed medication.”

Also read: Canadian study raises alarm about cannabis use during pregnancy as emergency room and hospital visits increase

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Research on cannabis and pregnancy

Meanwhile, a growing body of research shows conflicting results when it comes to cannabis use during pregnancy.

A recent study from the Hebrew University in collaboration with Hadassah Medical Center examined the potential long-term risks of prenatal cannabis use on children’s neurological development. The study, which included more than 500,000 participants, found that THC, a molecule found in cannabis, can cross the placenta and potentially affect the developing fetal brain. The link between marijuana use during pregnancy and autism, schizophrenia or depression has not been confirmed by researchers.

Separately, a study published July 4, 2024 in the journal Nature Mental Health (via Health Day News) shows that children exposed to cannabis in utero exhibit brain patterns indicative of reduced inflammation, which could hinder critical developmental processes . The study, led by David Baranger, a postdoctoral researcher at Washington University in St. Louis, found that prenatal cannabis exposure could affect the developing brain in ways linked to mental health.

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