Pubdate: Fri, 19 Jun 1998
Source: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (WI)
Contact:  (414) 224-8280
Website: http://www.jsonline.com/
Author: Lisa Sink of the Journal Sentinel staff

'COCAINE MOM' GETS 18 MONTHS' PROBATION

Waukesha -- The woman whose drug abuse during two pregnancies prompted new
legislation to protect fetuses from their mothers' drug abuse pleaded
guilty Thursday to a drug paraphernalia charge and was placed on probation.

A judge ordered the Waukesha woman, being identified only as Angela to
protect her childrens' identities, to serve 18 months on probation. Also,
she was ordered to continue to remain in an inpatient drug abuse facility
she entered in April for another six to nine months.

The woman's final hearing came just two days after Gov. Tommy Thompson,
seated in another Waukesha County courtroom, signed into law the so-called
"cocaine mom" bill, prompted in large part by Angela's history. The law
gives judges the authority to order pregnant, drug-abusing women into
treatment to protect their fetuses.

That law was sharply criticized in court Thursday by Angela's attorney,
Assistant State Public Defender Craig Mastantuono. He noted that in April,
when Angela was for the second time using cocaine during her final weeks of
pregnancy, she entered drug abuse treatment on her own.

"This is the way it should be done," Mastantuono said of Angela's voluntary
commitment.

While voluntary, her decision came just days before a judge ordered her
into the same treatment center for violating her bail in an earlier
conviction for possessing drug paraphernalia by testing positive for
cocaine.

The new law, Mastantuono continued, will prompt drug-addicted pregnant
women to avoid prenatal care and medical help out of fear that their
physicians will turn them in to authorities, as did Angela's physician when
she was pregnant in fall 1995.

"They may end up aborting more pregnancies if they feel that they're going
to have their liberties restrained," Mastantuono said.

If abortions increase, it may end up hurting the pro-life stance of many
conservatives who supported the bill, he said.

Those who drafted the law have argued that it is a compassionate method of
preventing cocaine babies and helping the mothers overcome their addictions
without fear of criminal sanctions or jail time.

Under the law, women can be ordered to undergo treatment in their homes, on
an out-patient basis or in a 24-hour inpatient facility.

Angela told a reporter outside of her court hearing Thursday that she "had
not heard anything" about the new law. "I don't know anything about it,"
she said, carrying her 2-month-old baby boy in her arms.

She has been living with her son at the inpatient treatment center and is
still fighting to regain her parental rights to the boy she delivered in
fall 1995.

That boy remains in foster care awaiting adoption should Angela lose her
appeal of her terminated rights.

Waukesha County officials made national news in September 1995 when they
tried a new method of protecting fetuses from drug abuse by using child
protection statutes.

Contacted by Angela's physician, who said Angela was resisting treatment
and was testing positive in her final months of pregnancy, county officials
convinced a judge to order Angela's detention to protect the fetus.

Angela agreed to enter an inpatient drug abuse facility rather than be
detained in a hospital or jail. But she appealed the county's action and
last year the state Supreme Court ruled, 4-3, that her detention was
illegal.

The court ruled that child protection codes did not define a fetus as a
child who could be legally in need of state protection.

The ruling prompted local legislators to draft a bill altering the codes to
protect fetuses.

Mastantuono told Circuit Judge Lee S. Dreyfus Jr. Thursday that Angela has
made great strides in the two months she has been in treatment.

"She stands before you clean, sober, a parent who is concerned about her
child and equipped" to be a good parent, he said.

She has participated in parenting classes and counseling and has been
working on achieving her high school equivalency diploma, he said. She also
has been put on anti-depressants to cope with depression.

"They (her counselors) all say that the prognosis is good," Mastantuono said.

Angela will likely remain in inpatient treatment for at least six months
before moving into transitional housing with her child, he said.

Dreyfus called the timing of the drug paraphernalia case and resulting
treatment "beneficial." "There has been a very significant start," he told
Angela, who chose not to speak during the hearing and declined to comment
as she left. He added, "But it obviously has a long way to go."

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