Parental Rights

Emma Camp | 9.13.2024 3:42 PM

Hospitals around the nation are administering unreliable drug tests to pregnant women, and siccing child welfare authorities upon them based on the results, according to a new investigation from The Marshall Project.

While we don't know just how many pregnant women are drug tested, federal data examined by The Marshall Project reporter Shoshana Walter indicates that tens of thousands of babies are reported to authorities for suspected natal drug exposure.

Disturbingly, it's been long known that these drug tests are unreliable. Urine drug tests commonly administered to pregnant women can have false positive rates as high as 50 percent. False positives frequently occur when someone is taking over-the-counter medications, common antidepressants, or routinely prescribed blood pressure medications. Women........

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