CNS photo/Andres Stapff, Reuters

Making Sense of Bioethics

Father Tadeusz Pacholczyk

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Submit a Letter to the Editor In recent years in the United States, cannabis use by pregnant women has been rising notably, even as alcohol and tobacco use during pregnancy have been declining over the same period. Your browser does not support the audio element. Father Tadeusz
Pacholczyk

In 2020, Amanda Aguilar was arrested after using marijuana while pregnant, and, after her son tested positive for marijuana at birth, was charged with child neglect.
She fought the charge, arguing that she had turned to medical marijuana to treat severe morning sickness during her pregnancy, and had received a doctor-approved state license for its use in Oklahoma where she lived.
Such "doctor-approved" licenses, it should be noted, are often generalized permits for unregulated personal use, rather than a medical professional’s prescribing, tracking and monitoring a patient at a tailored dose for a particular medical situation.
During the court proceedings, one of the judges stated that although Amanda had a medical permit to use marijuana, her baby did not, so a mother exposing her baby to marijuana, he concluded, should be considered an illegal act.
In 2024, however, the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals ruled that current Oklahoma law, as written, would not allow women with state medical cards who use marijuana during pregnancy to be prosecuted for child neglect. The court, in commenting on the case, nevertheless urged the legislature to consider changing and updating the law so that women in these situations could, in fact, be criminally charged for child neglect.
Amanda’s case shares some parallels with the consumption of alcohol during pregnancy, a practice strongly discouraged by medical professionals. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) notes, "The baby’s brain is developing throughout pregnancy and can be affected by exposure to alcohol at any time." Similarly, the CDC emphasizes, "Alcohol use during pregnancy can cause a range of lifelong behavioral, intellectual, and physical disabilities known as fetal alcohol spectrum disorders." By similar reasoning, then, […]

Evaluating medical marijuana use during pregnancy