By Kira Jones

Societal mores regarding women whoendanger their fetuses was just one questionspeaker Lynn Paltrow posed duringher lecture on reproductive rights Fridaynight in the Union.The lecture allowed Paltrow to discussthe conflicting views concerning pregnantwomen’s rights. She focused on theissue of drug use, abuse and addictionamong pregnant women and how thesewomen are often misrepresented to thepublic.”It comes down to people wanting topunish women for being pregnant andhaving a drug problem,” Paltrow said. “Iam not saying it is OK to take drugs whilewomen are pregnant, but that we have tolook at all factors of the situation.”The lecture was co-sponsored by Studentsfor Choice and the Harm Reductionand Public Health Association.Luciano Colonna, executive director ofthe Harm Reduction association, said theproblem is difficult to solve.”People want simple solutions to complexproblems, but society is unable totalk about sex and the surrounding issuesin public. Therefore, the issue has beenforced into criminal justice, but prisonsdon’t want pregnant women in jail.”Thus, more people need to understandthe subject of pregnant women’s rightsin order to prevent their further restriction,Paltrow said.”Many states are working to pass legislationthat gives hospitals the right todictate how women live their reproductivelives,” Paltrow explained. “When weempower states to make the decisionsfor women, we are treading on dangerousground. We need systems that aremanizing women and seeingthem as criminals for theirchoices.”By allowing others to dictatewomen’s reproductivelives, society creates such abroad definition of what is acceptablepolicy that all pregnantwomen feel the repercussions,Paltrow said. “Anywoman who creates a risk ofharm to a fetus is then a criminal.”For instance, even womenwho use methadone, a legaldrug, to treat heroin addictioncan have their babies takenaway, she said. Therefore,women suffer repercussionseven when they are workingto rehabilitate.”Even the women who wantto get help are being sent tojail,” she said.Another factor that may explainsociety’s perceptions ofdrug use and pregnant womenis eugenics, Paltrow said.”Society believes thesepeople are genetically damagedand are passing it on.Therefore, people are againstthem,” she said.”There are those that believethat by keeping certaingroups of people from havingbabies, society will get better,but this is not true. We needsocial support and we need tokeep asking until we get it,”Paltrow said.As a result, people are dividedby how they believe ratherthan what science asserts.The term “crack babies,” forexample, is especially harmfulbecause research has notconclusively linked crack tomental retardation. This termhurts the children because itcreates negative stereotypesof otherwise healthy individuals,Paltrow said.Drug use and pregnantwomen are not the only concernsof the government, Paltrowasserted.”Even women who havegiven birth to stillborn babiesare being con sideredmurderers, and women whochose to give birth at homeare sometimes arrested,” Paltrowsaid.There are also laws thatprevent living wills for pregnantwomen, making theirrights for decision non-existent.Furthermore, a woman’sright to choose a cesarean deliverycan be overturned dueto a doctor’s recommendation,even if the procedure ispotentially harmful, Paltrowsaid.Therefore, proposed legislationthat restricts any rightsof a pregnant woman will ultimatelyaffect the majority.”We need to emphasize scienceas the root of good decisionmaking rather than culturalideologies,” said DavidRoach, president of the HarmReduction and Public HealthAssociation.A lot of women just wanthelp, if someone will onlyadvocate for them, [email protected]