We all know that pregnant mothers should avoid alcohol, smoking, and probably should avoid recreational drug use. Pretty much common sense right? Afterall, a mothers’ own needs and health must be carefully balanced with the needs and health of potential children they’re carrying. But what to do about those moms that continue to party it up and abuse their bodies and endanger the health of the human life growing inside of them? Should they be punished?

The New York Times Magazine ran a story a few weeks ago about Alabama’s “criminalization of bad mothers.” Since 2006, 60 women have been prosecuted for the “chemical endangerment” of their unborn children. The chemical endangerment statute—which prohibits a “responsible person” from “exposing a child to an environment” in which he or she might “ingest, inhale or have contact with a controlled substance”—was originally created to protect (already-born) kids from meth lab explosions. But the Alabama courts have upheld an expanded definition which also applies to “unborn children.” And that means women who take controlled substances while pregnant are finding themselves facing felony charges.

While most states have been tossing around the debate of personhood amendments designed to designate any fertilized egg as a person under the law, this is kinda scary because Alabama has gone ahead and circumvented the legistative process and started prosecuting based on this assumption.

According to this article, in most places, maternal drug use is considered a matter for child protective services, not law enforcement. Setting aside the personhood issue for a moment, there’s another reason this is not a good idea: It deters pregnant drug addicts from seeking help for fear they’ll be prosecuted. It may even deter them seeking any sort of prenatal care, if they believe doctors are gathering evidence for legal prosecution.

The sad truth is that we can’t protect every developing fetus from its incubator (aka mom). Nor is it feasible for every mother to avoid every thing that could cause a baby harm. The list of things that can cause birth defects (just like cancer), grows longer every time we blink!

So where do we draw the line? Do we start punishing moms that are taking antidepressants or painkillers too? And, more importantly, who should be the judge of what that “line” is? Tell us your thoughts…