The legislation allows mothers to avoid criminal charges by enrolling in one of Tennessee’s few drug treatment programs.
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Despite arguments that the measure will drive vulnerable women away from drug addiction treatment, Tennessee governor Bill Haslam has signed legislation providing that, beginning July 1, prosecutors may lodge misdemeanor assault charges against a woman who gives birth to child who has been harmed as a result of her drug use. So reports USA Today.
The legislation allows mothers to avoid criminal charges by enrolling in one of Tennessee’s few drug treatment programs.