A Maryland Court Rules That Addicted Moms-To-Be Would Be Best Served by Treatment, Not Imprisonment

Let's say you're pregnant. Driving without a seatbelt, playing ice hockey, subsisting on Cheetos: They may not be recommended by What to Expect When You're Expecting, but do they constitute illegal reckless "child endangerment" -- punishable by imprisonment? In a decision hailed by National Advocates for Pregnant Women, Maryland's highest court has, in effect, said no.

"Imprisonment is not only the most costly thing the state could do," Lynn Paltrow of NAPW told the Washington Post. "It's the most family-destructive thing the state could do."

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