T
The420Guy
Guest
Regina McKnight is the only woman in America serving time for murder for having a stillborn child while she was a cocaine user. South Carolina is the only state in the union that will allow such a severe charge to be pressed against so-called "crack moms," but that might be changing.
Arguments were heard by the S.C. Supreme Court earlier this month that would overturn the law. We hope the justices will decide that South Carolina's law isn't ahead of its time, but a bad piece of legislation that needs to be struck down.
McKnight, who was convicted last year and sentenced to 12 years in prison, gave birth to a dead baby girl who tested positive for a cocaine by-product. No other cause of death was entertained. Assuming that cocaine killed Baby McKnight, however, there is a question whether her mother knew there was a correlation between drug abuse and fetal viability. As Supreme Court Chief Justice Jean Toal said, "You've got to show some proof this uneducated homeless person knew taking cocaine while she was pregnant would harm her baby."
Further, it's important to recognize that McKnight did not use drugs out of choice, but because she was addicted. That fact seems to have escaped Greg Hembree, the assistant state attorney who prosecuted McKnight last year.
In an interview prior to the Supreme Court hearing, he said she willfully killed her baby "because of her selfishness or her own personal desires."
Interestingly, defenders of the law say it is a powerful tool for getting addicted women into treatment. It seems they are talking out of both sides of their mouths.
It has been well documented that other behavior during pregnancy, including smoking cigarettes and drinking alcohol, is also harmful to the unborn. In fact, a study earlier this year in the Journal of the American Medical Association stated that cocaine use is about as harmful as smoking cigarettes and less harmful than heavy drinking. However, there's no law preventing pregnant women from indulging their "personal desires" for a pack of Marlboro or a six-pack of beer. The sight of a heavily pregnant woman sucking on a cigarette is, unfortunately, all too common.
The fact that McKnight was engaging in an unlawful activity prejudices many people against her. But suppose a baby had been born dead after the mother was in a car accident in which she had not worn her seat belt. That's against the law, too. Should she be charged with murder?
The "crack mom" laws have been a hobby horse for outgoing Attorney General Charlie Condon to ride for most of his time in office, both in Columbia and previously as a solicitor in Charleston. Wyndi Anderson, executive director of South Carolina Advocates for Pregnant Women, was quoted in a recent press report as saying his policy was directed at poor, African-American women such as Regina McKnight, and that it was all part of his political agenda.
We don't hold out much hope that incoming Attorney General Henry McMaster will be see things any differently; in fact, he may politicize the attorney general's office even worse. But the Supreme Court can take the matter out of his hands by striking down a bad law and allowing McKnight to clean up her act outside a prison cell.
Pubdate: Thu, 21 Nov 2002
Source: Anderson Independent-Mail (SC)
Copyright: 2002 Independent Publishing Company, a division of E.W. Scripps
Contact: online@andersonsc.com
Website: https://www.andersonsc.com/
Arguments were heard by the S.C. Supreme Court earlier this month that would overturn the law. We hope the justices will decide that South Carolina's law isn't ahead of its time, but a bad piece of legislation that needs to be struck down.
McKnight, who was convicted last year and sentenced to 12 years in prison, gave birth to a dead baby girl who tested positive for a cocaine by-product. No other cause of death was entertained. Assuming that cocaine killed Baby McKnight, however, there is a question whether her mother knew there was a correlation between drug abuse and fetal viability. As Supreme Court Chief Justice Jean Toal said, "You've got to show some proof this uneducated homeless person knew taking cocaine while she was pregnant would harm her baby."
Further, it's important to recognize that McKnight did not use drugs out of choice, but because she was addicted. That fact seems to have escaped Greg Hembree, the assistant state attorney who prosecuted McKnight last year.
In an interview prior to the Supreme Court hearing, he said she willfully killed her baby "because of her selfishness or her own personal desires."
Interestingly, defenders of the law say it is a powerful tool for getting addicted women into treatment. It seems they are talking out of both sides of their mouths.
It has been well documented that other behavior during pregnancy, including smoking cigarettes and drinking alcohol, is also harmful to the unborn. In fact, a study earlier this year in the Journal of the American Medical Association stated that cocaine use is about as harmful as smoking cigarettes and less harmful than heavy drinking. However, there's no law preventing pregnant women from indulging their "personal desires" for a pack of Marlboro or a six-pack of beer. The sight of a heavily pregnant woman sucking on a cigarette is, unfortunately, all too common.
The fact that McKnight was engaging in an unlawful activity prejudices many people against her. But suppose a baby had been born dead after the mother was in a car accident in which she had not worn her seat belt. That's against the law, too. Should she be charged with murder?
The "crack mom" laws have been a hobby horse for outgoing Attorney General Charlie Condon to ride for most of his time in office, both in Columbia and previously as a solicitor in Charleston. Wyndi Anderson, executive director of South Carolina Advocates for Pregnant Women, was quoted in a recent press report as saying his policy was directed at poor, African-American women such as Regina McKnight, and that it was all part of his political agenda.
We don't hold out much hope that incoming Attorney General Henry McMaster will be see things any differently; in fact, he may politicize the attorney general's office even worse. But the Supreme Court can take the matter out of his hands by striking down a bad law and allowing McKnight to clean up her act outside a prison cell.
Pubdate: Thu, 21 Nov 2002
Source: Anderson Independent-Mail (SC)
Copyright: 2002 Independent Publishing Company, a division of E.W. Scripps
Contact: online@andersonsc.com
Website: https://www.andersonsc.com/
