It just never ends with these fucking people . . . .
The prosecutor’s office in Big Horn County, Montana, has announced an “immediate crackdown” on any expectant mothers who use drugs or drink alcohol.
County Attorney Gerald “Jay” Harris said his office will seek civil restraining orders against those pregnant women. When there are “provable” violations of such orders, the county will ask for jail time in order to “incapacitate” the mothers, according to a Jan. 11 press release announcing the new policy.
Harris encouraged the public to report instances of mothers-to-be drinking or using drugs to the sheriff.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/pregnant-women-big-horn-county-montana_us_5a674bf8e4b0e5630073b88c?ncid=inblnkushpmg00000009
Let's get something clear right off the bat. Nobody in their right mind, and The Gadfly would include his self in that group, advocates for women to abuse alcohol or drugs while pregnant. Think about this - a woman would have to be in a very disturbed psychological state of mind to be doing such a thing to begin with and yes, it stands to reason that some form of intervention is imperative - for both the expectant mother's and her unborn baby's health in such cases, but knee-jerk imprisonment is about the stupidest fucking solution of all.
Which of course brings us to this Montana County Attorney Jay Harris asshole.
Mr. Harris has proposed one of those good old fashioned, conservative, lesson teaching solutions to a quite manageable social problem.
Lock 'em up.
Instead of sensible education and prevention methods, of which there is plenty of evidence of their efficacy (but a dearth of funding), this jackass just wants to toss these women in to a jail cell and then proclaim himself supreme savior of the zygotes.
And speaking of no funding for education, prevention and rehabilitation - just once The Gadfly would like to see a coherent, non-religious, non-bullshit explanation from these conservatives as to how it is that they can so zealously support tax cuts for billionaires, but never want to see any taxpayer funds utilized for social programs that have been proven to have positive results in dealing with issues like this, issues which they love to wrap their biblical "moral values" around to justify their draconian public policies and laws, but never really want to genuinely address.
But don't take The Gadfly's word as to why tossing these girls and women in to a jail cell is a cruel, numbnuts idea? Here - listen to some much more intelligent and humane Americans explain it to you:
But research and experience show that treating pregnant women punitively can do more harm than good. An already vulnerable population of women may be discouraged from seeking prenatal care or help stopping their drug use. And abrupt discontinuation of opioids during pregnancy — as would happen when an expectant mother is jailed — can lead to preterm labor, fetal distress and even fetal death.
The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and other major medical groups were quick to condemn Big Horn County’s proposed crackdown as “ineffective” and “harmful.”
“These kind of things come up periodically. People want to respond to the opioid crisis, or the problems related to drug use in pregnancy, with these kind of punitive responses, but there really is zero scientific evidence that this will work,” said Dr. Lauren Jansson, director of pediatrics at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center’s Center for Addiction and Pregnancy.
In fact, incarcerating expectant moms could ultimately contribute to the health problems the policy aims to resolve, she told HuffPost.
“Any time you try and separate the well-being of the fetus from the well-being of the mother, you get into a kind of slippery slope,” the doctor said. “The fetus relies on stable maternal physiology to properly develop, and if you put a woman with an addiction disorder under constant stress — if you put them in jail, if you deny them treatment, if you deny them medication — that’s not going to be optimal for the fetus.”
Addiction experts warn that a prosecutorial approach also perpetuates the idea that addiction is a moral failing or a bad choice. Jansson balked at the notion of a prosecutor’s office urging other citizens to report on pregnant women, likening it to the attitudes behind the Salem witch trials.
If any of you dear readers ever wonder why it is that The Gadfly is so vocal with his views about this modern strain of American conservatism, it is precisely because of neanderthal goons like this district attorney who have demonstrated to The Gadfly over and over again that they are the ones, much more so than the targets of their conservative piety, whose good standing membership in the human race needs be seriously and persistently reevaluated.
----TFG
No comments:
Post a Comment