What are your thoughts on criminalizing women who consume alcohol and drugs while pregnant? Do you think shaming and blaming these women will lead to a change in future pregnancy and substance use behaviours?
Officers: Newport woman admits to taking drugs, drinking alcohol while pregnant
Result: Woman arrested
COCKE COUNTY, Tenn. (WVLT) — The Cocke County Sheriff’s Department said a Newport woman is charged with assault after she admitted to regularly doing drugs while pregnant.
Michelle Dawn Finchum is now in jail. A sheriff’s report said she told the Department of Children’s Services she used illegal drugs and drank whisky and vodka every day during her pregnancy.
Finchum is one of at least three other East Tennessee women charged under a new law that punishes pregnant women who abuse narcotics and give birth to a drug dependent child or that child is harmed as a result of drug abuse.