Pubdate: Thu, 31 May 2001
Source: New York Times (NY)
Copyright: 2001 The New York Times Company
Contact:  http://www.nytimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/298
Section: Letters to the Editor
Author: Kathy Moore
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01/n934/a09.html
Related: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01/n966/a02.html
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?153 (Ferguson v. City of Charleston)

TREATMENT, NOT PRISON

To the Editor:

Re "Stillborn Justice," by Bob Herbert (column, May
24):

Regina McKnight, a South Carolina woman, was recently sentenced to 12 years 
in prison for homicide because she gave birth to a stillborn, late-term fetus.

Ms. McKnight was prosecuted because both she and her stillborn baby tested 
positive for cocaine. Ms. McKnight is only the latest in a long line of 
South Carolinians to be prosecuted for the crime of being poor, pregnant, 
African-American and addicted to drugs.

Addiction is a disease, and it should be met with treatment, not incarceration.

KATHY MOORE
President, Charleston Chapter National Organization for Women Charleston, 
S.C., May 25, 2001
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