Psychiatric News (5/17) reports, “State policies that criminalize or punish pregnant women and adolescent girls for prenatal substance abuse may have a negative impact on outcomes such as opioid overdose and seeking treatment for opioid use disorder (OUD),” researchers concluded after having “analyzed data from 164,538 females between the ages of 15 and 45 years who had a diagnosis of OUD between 2006 and 2019, of which 13% were pregnant at least once during that time.” The study team then “compared changes in outcomes in pregnant women and adolescent girls in states with and without…prenatal substance use policies, before and after the implementation of the policies.” The findings were published online May 10 ahead of print in the Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment.
Related Links:
— “Policies That Criminalize Perinatal Substance Use Linked to Poor Outcomes in Mothers, Psychiatric News, May 17, 2022